Die Kat Koningin
by Tbonechick2011
Summary: What happens when the headmaster of Ouran decides to test the students' abilities over the summer and sends them to foreign countries? Mori is just happy he's going somewhere with a lot of animals and he still has his friends. Surely things can't be bad..
1. One Eccentric Teacher

The lights in the classroom were turned off and the teacher had left for a short meeting. She left on the National Geographic movie, hoping it would keep the kids occupied for the remaining time of school, and to end the year off, even though she knew better. It was the last day of school before their summer vacation, and much to the student's surprises, they had not been given homework, yet. The teacher herself was a little bit crazy, but that was why the students loved her.

However, the rich were also bored when it was the end of the year. Girls turned around and started talking to each other, and the boy resorted to tossing paper balls at the trashcan. No one was paying attention, save two souls. A blonde haired boy watched the TV with wide eyes as the Lions ripped out a roar. His tall companion sat next to him, watching with a slightly bored expression, but he was captivated by the majestic animal.

"The lions are the only large group of cats that live in a pride, or a close knit family." The narrator spoke, oblivious to the uninterested class. They weigh anywhere between two-hundred and sixty-five pounds to five hundred pounds. To this day, there is still a decline in the big cat family, though there are numerous volunteers working hard to keep them from going extinct."

There was a wide view of the land they filmed, and the video finally ended. The lights flickered on to the classroom and the teacher entered with false smile. Normally, the students would continue to chat on and carry away with their conversation, but their attention was stolen by the headmaster who followed in behind the teacher. The room was so silent, the sound of a dropping pen sounded like a bomb going off.

However, the headmaster cleared his throat and offered the students a smile.

"Hello everyone." He greeted, and was returned with a greeting as well. "As you all know, you haven't been given any homework for the break, and there's a wonderful explanation of that."

He held his hands behind his back and studied the students one by one. Oh how wonderful this would be!

"As young heirs to your family name, it was decided that you all needed some experience of community service. When we approached the ideas of this experience with your parents, they readily agreed. However, there's a catch."

The room was suddenly sent into a wave of chatter as the boys and girls shared their thoughts. Mori sent Honey a concerned glance. He did not like the thought of being separate from his cousin.

"Fret not everyone; it's not that bad, honestly. You will, however, be living away from home all summer in a foreign country. It is also not just your year, but the entire academy. And do not fret; you will be partnered with others from this school. I have the names already marked down, where you will be going, and what you are to accomplish while you are there."

The murmur grew into worried and excited chatter. The boys looked forward to an adventure in a different country, the girls fretted about being away from all the handsome bachelors. The headmaster gathered their attention by coughing and holding his hands up.

"I promise this won't be as bad as it sounds. You all will learn about the different lives then what you are living, discover different cultures and most off all, make connections. As you leave today, you will find out which other students will be in your group and the expected departing date. Good luck to you all."

And like that, the headmaster left the startled room. All of the eyes snapped onto the teacher, who was practically giggling with delight. Her glasses flashed in the light as she gave them all a smile.

"Now you all know why I've been giving you those videos for the last two weeks." She said a little too happily. "So I already have the groups and will pass out your own personal journal. Inside the cover are your name and your destination along with your assignment for the time being. All other instructions are listed in there as well, but it all depends on your country. And I also went to the extremes of personal picking out these journals; they somehow reflect the country you're going to visit."

Mori stared at the leather bound journal sitting in front of him and wanted to jump for joy. He noted that his journal was identical to Honey's. Mori flipped the cover open and read his fate in the beautiful cursive writing.

'Takashi Morinozuka. Destination: Africa, Tanzania, Lake Manyara Conservation' Mori nodded his head in delight. Volunteer work with animals sounded good to him and Honey. He spotted a little note at the very bottom of the page and smiled as he read it.

'I knew you didn't want to be separated from Honey. You're welcome. Enjoy your summer.'

"Tanzania?" Honey asked aloud and furrowed his eyebrows. "It sounds like fun Mori-chan!" He said happily. "I like animals too! I hope we get to see lots." He giggled happily and gave Usa-chan a tight squeeze. "Let's go see what Tama-chan and the others got for their places."

*LINE*

"You got Africa too?" Haruhi asked a little shocked. "So did the rest of us."

"It's not fair!" Cried the King just a little too dramatically. He was sitting on the couch, hugging his knees close to him. "I was going to have the time of my life with my daughter, but dad just had to ruin it!"

Haruhi shook her head and sighed as she turned her focus onto talking Tamaki out of his drama. Honey looked up at Mori with his wide eyes.

"Can we go to the zoo? We might get an idea of what we're supposed to be expecting when we get to Africa."

"Hmm." Mori nodded his head in agreement.

The zoo sounded like a marvelous idea to him. He was just happy that things were sorta looking up.

A/N: Hello everyone. This is my first chapter-length fanfic for Ouran, and I hope you all enjoy it! I would love some feedback, ideas tossed around and of course, if there are flames, they will be used to cook me some steak! :D I am going to try my best with keeping this story original and stay away from clichéd junk. Also, I'm working hard to keep everyone in character. If there's anything I can do to make you all satisfied, let me know! Otherwise, I would love some support from someone, even if it's through reviews or alerts, I'll keep pressing on!

Love,

Jazzy


	2. Lemurs

"Why am I here again with you guys?"

The ones leading the group just so happened to be Mori and Honey, and both were oblivious to Kyoya's question, much to his demise. Tamaki wasn't too far behind, and he was chatting excitedly with Haruhi about the prospect of a new adventure in Africa. She was slightly listening, but it was evident that her mind was somewhere else. Mori was looking around for the map and quickly spotted one of the information booths.

"Here we are." He spoke and pointed at the sign.

They all looked at the map and found that each section of the zoo was separated by different continents. Honey, who was sitting on the shoulders of Mori, looked over the map and pointed at the big words: AFRICA.

"We need to go that way!" He cheered and Mori took that as his cue to move.

The zoo today was packed with children of all different ages and sizes. Most of them were from a pre-school and very little. Haruhi found herself smiling at the little kids who were lined up, all holding hands with each other. They were headed in the same direction the Host Club was headed to: Africa.

"So," Hikaru started while he wrapped one arm around Haruhi.

"What do you think they'll have us do for volunteer work?" Kaoru joined his brother on the other side of Haruhi and leaned against her.

Ignoring Tamaki's protests, Haruhi slipped out of the deadly grasp of the twins and scoffed at them.

"I can tell you what you _won't _be doing." She gave them a scornful look. "You won't be pampered. I promise you that much."

"Yeah!" Tamaki was quick to agree with her and held out a finger towards the accusing forces. "We're working with animals or the environment, whichever one they place us with. We need to take this seriously so we know what we're going to expect."

"Well, catch you all later!"

The twins smirked and turned on their heels, completely ignoring the angry looks and rants that Tamaki was directing at them. Haruhi sighed and turned back to follow Mori and Honey. She was at least interested to see the animals that they could possibly see in Africa. She already knew that the lions, zebras, giraffes and hippos were a sudden given, but she was more interested in the other animals as well.

"Look Mori-chan!" Honey exclaimed from the top of the man's shoulders.

Mori followed the pointing finger of Honey and found that he was pointing towards the monkeys and primates pin. Then he noticed what Honey was pointing at. There were some handlers that had lemurs out and were allowing children to play with them. Honey was quick to clamber down Mori and head towards the new sight. Mori followed behind him closely after making sure Haruhi, Tamaki and Kyoya were behind them. They were still there, but they had been distracted by the giraffes that were sticking their heads way over the fence, just to get a better look at the new visitors. Kyoya was sitting on the bench with a pen and a black notebook, writing down God knows what. Mori turned his attention back to Honey, who already had, not one, but two lemurs crawling over his back and propping themselves on his shoulder. A small smile played on Mori's lips as he started forward, only to have someone to bump into him. Startled, he turned to see a girl, close to his age, stumbling away from him. She looked up at him quickly, and her hazel eyes widened. Mori took the chance to study her. Her skin was dark and tanned. Her black hair was pulled back into a pony tail, but Mori could spot the odd colors of feathers. Before, she had worn a scowl on her soft face, but it was replaced with guilt. Mori caught a quick glimpse of a tooth hanging from a cord that was decorated with beads of different styles and colors.

"Oh, please excuse me." She quickly apologized.

He couldn't place her accent, but he knew she was not from around Japan.

"It's fine."

She quickly turned away, but Mori had also caught the sadness in her eyes. Deciding it was not his place to search after a stranger, Mori turned back to Honey, who now had all of the lemurs on him. The handlers were slightly worried as they reached out to grab them, but they climbed out of reach, and dropped back onto the small boy. Sighing, Mori stepped forward to intervene.

Evelyn Richards was not happy at all. It didn't even help that she bumped into a complete stranger. Her face flushed at the memory; he was too good looking, and it really did embarrass her. Never had she been so reckless.

But that was not on her mind right now. Instead, she was facing a problem: a great big one, and she needed to find someone in charge. So she went to the only place she knew around there: the Security Office. When she walked in, silence fell across the room as a man looked up from his computer. He gave her a hopeful smile.

"Hello there. How can I help you?"

"Yes, I have an appointment Doctor Lee Richards today. I cannot possibly find his office anywhere, could you please help me?"

"Sure. Can I get your name? I can call him to come and get you."

"Evelyn Richards, and thanks for your help."

The phone was already in his hand, but he nodded at her. Evelyn turned her attention to the pictures hanging up in the office and a small smile played on her lips. There was a picture of Steve Irwin and the Security team together, posing in front of the large statue in front of the zoo. Next to the picture was another picture, this time of an orange kitten looking into the mirror and a Lion peering back. The words written on the bottom read "Be the change you want to be".

The door to the office quickly opened to reveal a man in a casual dress suit. Eve frowned and wrinkled her eyebrows together as she studied the familiar man.

His black hair was messy and his tie was very loose.

"Doctor."

His attention went immediately to her, and he released an exasperated sigh.

"Good Lord Eve. I've been looking for you everywhere. How can you get lost here?"

"I don't come here often and you weren't at the meeting point." She said as she crossed her arms.

"Never mind that, we've got bigger issues to discuss, come along."

He motioned for her to walk out first, but he immediately turned to the security office and flashed him a smile.

"Thanks for phoning me." He called out chipper as he turned to leave.

"No problem Doc. See ya next time."

A nervous chuckle was his response.

Eve was quick to turn on the man next to her as they were walking with haste towards the African section of the zoo.

"What is going on?"

"I will explain when we're not in public."

And like that, he reached behind and grabbed a hold of his sisters's hand and dragged her throughout the zoo so she wouldn't get lost like last time. She wanted to pull her hand away from him, but ignored the urge; whatever is on his mind must be important.

When they found solitude in his large office, he finally let go of her hand and plopped into his office chair. He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his short black hair.

"Well sis, dad's gone off and done it again."

"Did what exactly?" Her attention was fully captivated with her brother as she raised an eyebrow and crossed her arm.

"He sent me a letter, informing me that he is still in England, pleading the funds for the facility out in Africa. He managed to make a bargain, but the facility needs to open and ready for the public viewing, and everything needs to be organized."

Evelyn felt her anger rush.

"But that's nearly impossible! We don't have that kind of knowledge or man power to do so!"

"I understand. That's why you need to return as soon as possible and get the animals lined out quickly. You know them much better than anyone there."

"But I need the man power." She argued back. "Where am I going to get that? The bloody prision? Perhaps I can ask the militia instead."

"Eve…"

"I can't believe he would ask this of me! I'm only eighteen!" She threw her hands up in the air and sat down in the chair in front of her brother. She began to mindlessly play with the feather in her hair.

"Sister, listen to you." Evelyn snapped her hazel eyes up to meet the angry gaze of her brother. "You have something special that our family would kill for. You know animal behavior much better than human behavior. Don't think of yourself; think of how to help these animals. If you don't help the Conservation, there are a lot of species that would go extinct just because you thought you couldn't. Dad needs your help more than ever."

Eve let out a frustrated sigh. She hated it when Lee was correct.

"I will leave with the next flight out."

"That's tonight."

Eve nodded and stood.

"The sooner I get started, the better chance we have, right brother?"

He stood up from his chair and held his arms out to her. She grabbed him in a tight hug and fought of the urge to sigh.

A/N: Here it is again! The next chapter! Anyways, due to lack of any traffic, I decided I'm still pressing on forward. Maybe someone will like this enough to give me feedback. I don't know if I suck at writing OHSHC or not because no one has told me yet! :D Anywho, here it is, the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

Love,

Jazzy


	3. Landing in Africa

This chapter is dedicated to my first set of reviewers: Ayjah (I was thrilled when I saw you reviewed! I feel so honored that you stick around me all this time!), Vivid(It took me a while to come up with something original and I decided there was nothing like this!), The Midnight Shadow Star (Thanks for the advice, I'll try to keep that in mind!), XxSilentHostessxX(That thought has crossed my mind several times), and Japanese Clute(Thank you for reviewing my story! I appreciate your support and I am going to ask you, what does Clute mean? I cannot find a definite definition on it).

"Welcome back Evelyn!"

The teenage was greeted warmly by the staff she had worked with for a long time and she flashed them all an encouraging smile.

"Thank you all. We'll be having a staff meeting in ten minutes in the auditorium in the Turtle Habitat."

She could hear the whispers behind her back, but she held her head high. It wasn't like she was stupid; some didn't believe she could get the Conservation up and running before the expected time. This time, she was damned and determined that she would prove them wrong. She couldn't wait for the day when they would all be shocked with her success. But for now, she had to worry about providing rooms and lodgings for the new volunteers. She frowned at the thought of teaching someone the works of the place when she didn't have enough time, but she could correctly recall her father's letter: they would prove themselves useful.

However, the crowd in front of her brought Evelyn out of her day dreams. After the pilot of the small aircraft that brought her out to the location, handed her the small luggage, Evelyn headed towards a small building that would serve as her office and home while she was working.

The door opened to reveal the room in the same way she had left it. The map over the paper covered desk still resided in the wall. None of the markings have been faded. The only difference was that there was some dust covering the picture frames that were hung up all over the place.

She stepped through the front and into the back room that would serve as her bed room. A hammock was hung up by the window and it lacked pillows or anything that would give it some kind of character. Eve set her bag down and turned her attention to the front room. She set her back pack on the desk and pulled out a lap top, instantly jumping to work.

The blue prints and designs for the Haven were sitting in front of her and she started to make notes as to what they needed in each pasture or aquarium. Her attention was quickly switched over to the slide show she had to present to them and sighed. They had the plans and means of organization, but she was starting to wonder if any of them would actually participate.

'_I need more help.'_

"Evelyn?"

The young girl jumped at the sound of someone at her door. She quickly turned to glare at the intruder, but her glare quickly fell.

"Mjomba*, don't scare me!" Evelyn chuckled and pushed herself out of her chair to hug the taller native.

He laughed with her and accepted her hug. His wrinkled hands rubbed her back and a warm smile covered his black face. She breathed in the familiar smell of his musky smell and couldn't have been any happier.

"It's been too long Bititi*."

She giggled at her given name.

"It's good to have you back on the team."

"It's great to be back."

He peered over her shoulder and spotted the screen. Frowning, he let her go and went to study it.

"Already working? You just came home."

"Yeah. I'm getting ready to present the blue prints and our plan of action to them. We only have this summer to complete the project."

Mjomba released Evelyn from her hug and stood back to study her. His dark brown eyes were concerned and slightly angry, but Evelyn waved it off.

"Dad sent a letter to Lee while I was in Japan. All the information was there."

The older man sighed and rubbed his tired face with calloused hands.

"Have you at least been to visit the animals yet?"

A frown touched the younger girl's face.

"Not yet. And I won't get a chance to. Not for at least another day will I get to truly enjoy their presence." Her frown crinkled up her soft face as she let out another sigh. "I have to go pick up the new volunteers from the airstrip and then show them around and get them settled in before we start everything tomorrow."

"Don't worry about the volunteers. I'll take care of them for today. You need a chance to get your feet back under you."

She gave him a sympathetic smile and shook her head.

"They're all high school kids, are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"Hey, they're about the same age as you Bititi."

"Doesn't mean a thing. All I need is people to work. I don't care what they are."

Oh how she would regret those words later, but at the time, she didn't care or take notice. Instead, she glanced at her watch and sighed.

"I need to get going and introduce these plans to everyone. Will you be my wing man?"

"Certainly."

The Host Club was in shock. Never have they ever been so...

"Commonized." The twins said in horror.

Haruhi furrowed her eyebrows together and crossed her arms as she studied them across the isle of the small plane. She had been listening to the twins for a very long time and knew instantly that this summer vacation would be a long one.

"What on Earth does that mean?"

"It's simple, Haruhi." Hikaru said as he leaned over the side of his chair that was next to hers. Kaoru sat in front of him.

"Yeah," Kaoru agreed, mimicking his brother. "First, we fly from Northern Africa to Southern Africa on a crappy plane."

"Then," Hikaru stepped back in. "We lose our cell phone connections."

"Not only that, but we've lost all of our hopes for a five start hotel, and we couldn't bring anyone else with us to do all the work."

"We'll be facing two months of labor,"

Both of them looked at each other and grimaced.

"_Without pay."_ They said in sync and sighed.

"Commonized means that they've become commoners themselves." Kyoya answered from the front of the tiny plane. "And I do believe we're about to land."

After hearing a surprised gasp coming from Honey, Mori opened his eyes and glanced out of the window. He had to suppress a gasp as well.

The entire green land was covered with different animals of all types. Mori could easily pick out the giant herd of Zebras and Gazelles. They were all running in the same direction as the airplane, but they paid no attention to them at all.

Haruhi couldn't even keep her mouth closed as she studied all the action on the ground.

Everyone's attention was captured when the felt the plane decrease. Everyone was anxious to get off the plane and explore the whole new world.

The man waiting for them was a tall, burley looking man. He stood about six foot tall and wore the traditional clothing for an African safari, light khakis, a tan shit with pockets and a large hat that covered his colored face and a pair of work boots to match the attire. A white beard danced around his face and his chocolate eyes swam with adventure as he studied the new recruits.

'_Evelyn is going to have her hands full. Maybe I should bring her a drink home.'_

Mjomba raised his eyebrows at the prospect of her drinking, but shook it off.

"Welcome to Africa!" He announce when he was sure that the entire group was off the plane. "My name is Mjomba, and I will be your guide for today."

Mjomba almost took a step back when he realized that two boys were in fact twins, he wasn't ready for the surprise.

The first one to speak was the tall blonde.

"Wow! It's so-"

"Dry?" One of the twins, Mjomba didn't know which, spoke.

"Deserted?"

"Beautiful!" The blonde finished, completely ignoring the twins. "And look at the welcoming committee that's been sent to us!"

A girl pushed her way through the group and approached Mjomba, completely blowing off the Host Club. She held out a hand for him to shake.

"I'm Haruhi Fujioka." She greeted. "And these goofballs behind me probably won't be useful to you at all."

Mjomba laughed a heartfelt laugh and shook her hand.

"Any help would be nice, even if it is little tasks."

"My good man, the little tasks shall be completed, for I am Tamaki Suoh!"

Mjomba watched in interest as the young blonde went off on a dramatic rant.

_Bititi will not have such an easy time with this crew._

A small boy had crawled up on the shoulders of a much taller man, much to his surprise.

_He was supposed to be a high scholar?_

None the less, Mjomba shook hands with each and every one of them and showed them to the jeep that was to take them back to base. He could already imagine what kind of the jobs that would be most appropriate for them, but left his mouth shut. If Evelyn wanted them somewhere else, he would not give into her on this one occasion.

A/N: Yeah! Another chapter is up! Whooo! I didn't want to make it too long, so I cut it in half. Besides, I needed more time to work on it anyways! But here it is! And I'm excited for the support that I'm getting! Thank you to Ayjah and Vivid for pointing out my mistake… Guess that's what I get for typing too fast. Anyways, thanks for the wonderful support everyone!

Oh! And translations! Mjomba is Swahili for Uncle and Bititi is strong woman! Thought it was fitting.

Love,

Jazzy


	4. Cairo?

The tall girl stood in front of the office with her arms crossed while she studied the glamorous boys. This was not the kind of help she was expecting to say in the least. The situation would be out of hand pretty soon if she wasn't too careful. She studied the girl first: it was obvious that she would be the easiest to relate to out of the group. The Japanese girl seems mellow and level headed, which is what she needed in a good worker. She also didn't dress in the same, fancy attire the boys had worn, which made her seem much easier to approach even.

Evelyn sighed when she studied the handsome blonde on the left side of the girl. He seemed dramatic, maybe too dramatic. She made a mental note to give him easy tasks that wouldn't ruin their operation.

'_Hmmm… Maybe he could work in the turtle hut? It's not that hard of a job, and that gives me more experienced people to be moved somewhere else.'_

Her attention went to the pale, black-haired man next to him. He seemed to be absorbed in writing on a black iPad, but he would pause long enough to look around and then he would turn back to his notes.

The twins were easy on the eyes as well. Evelyn found herself studying them while they leaned on each other and chatted casually. They were completely identical, and she searched for a way to tell them apart, but as of now, she couldn't.

However, her attention was drawn to a very odd couple. A small blonde headed kid sat on top of the shoulders of a tall guy. The little kid was pointing out to all the different people, but the tall guy had his eyes on something completely different; the animals. The tall guy looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen him before.

This group of volunteers would make her entire summer either interesting or a living hell, she didn't know which, but she preferred the first option.

Mjomba walked around the group and stood next to Eve and took a deep breath in.

"Listen up guys. This is our Animal Behaviorist, Evelyn Richards. She will be helping your training and deciding what fields you best belongs in." He turned to her and put a supporting hand on her back, and pointed at the female of the group.

"That is Haruhi." In turn, the girl politely bowed. "Next to her is Tamaki."

The said blonde was quick to whip a white rose out of his jacket. Hastily, he fell to his knees in front of Eve and grabbed a hold of her hand. He was slightly mesmerized by the black feather in her hair, but he was quick to recover.

"Hello prince-"

He was cut off by Haruhi, who was quick to grab him by the collar and yank him back into their rank.

"Don't mind him. He'll try to charm you endlessly." She apologized.

Mjomba shook his head and moved on.

"The young man in the glasses is called Kyoya." A false smile was forced on his lips as he held his iPad closer to him.

"The twins are Hikaru and Kaoru." They looked positively bored but muttered a 'hey' directed towards her.

"The small boy is Honey, and the tall one is Mori. They are all from Ouran High School in Japan."

Honey waved from his position on Takashi and held his pink, stuffed bunny in the other hand. The tall boy nodded in acknowledgement to her, but continued to study the animals behind her.

'_Is he really a high scholar?'_

She gave them a warm smile to her best abilities and addressed them all.

"Hello. It's a pleasure to see you all volunteered to help."

"We didn't volunteer." One of the twins spoke, bored.

"We were sent here by our school." The other one added in.

"It's not like we wanted to come on our own." They spoke in unison.

Evelyn almost faltered. She was slightly shocked of their rude remarks but she recovered quickly. Anger flashed through her momentarily and she tried her best to keep herself composed.

"Even reluctant help is needed. I will try to pair everyone up with tasks that I think they would enjoy or find it better to work in." Evelyn turned to face Haruhi. "If you could follow me, your bedroom coincides with mine."

"Great!"

"Let's get your bags. I'll drive you over to our little abode."

"What about us?" The twins asked in unison again.

Eve turned to them while she was halfway into the jeep and smirked.

"Looks like you've got a walk. I hope you didn't pack too much crap."

Haruhi looked over her shoulder at Eve and then to the boys. A nervous smile was plastered on her face.

"D-don't you think that's just a little bit harsh Evelyn?"

Evelyn returned a confident smile back at Haruhi.

"Nope, it's completely fair. Let's go."

As soon as the Japanese girl was sitting in the front with her new friend, Evelyn started to pull away when a pitiful cry interrupted her thoughts.

"Haruhi! Don't leave Daddy!"

Evelyn looked in the rear view mirror to find that the tall blonde guy, Tamaki, was chasing after the car.

"Daddy?"

"Long story."

"I don't think I'm going to ask."

They were silent as Evelyn maneuvered the jeep between buildings and other vehicles. Haruhi took the chance to observe the conservation.

"There are a lot of busy bodies."

Evelyn fell silent as she pulled up in front of a small building. The jeep was shut off with a quick flick of Evelyn's wrist, but the teen suddenly looked anxious.

"I hope so. We're on a deadline."

"We are?"

Evelyn looked over at Haruhi as she started to step out of the jeep.

"I'm sorry, was that out loud? My apologies. For now, let's just get you comfortable. Tonight, you all are not required to do anything but learn the layout of this place. This is going to be your home for the summer. I really hope you don't mind sharing a building with me. We've had a lot of unexpected events recently, and this is the quickest thing we could come up with."

The room size reminded Haruhi much like her bedroom back at home: it wasn't a great big giant room, but it wasn't cramped. In the corner, next to a window, hung a hammock.

"I know you're probably not used to hammocks, but out here, they're easier to keep, clean and they're cheap. I'm sorry it's all we have. I have some extra blankets and pillows if you need any as well."

"Thank you very much."

Crossing her arms, Evelyn leaned against the doorway to Haruhi's room and a gentle smile crept on her face.

"It should be I thanking you Haruhi. You have no idea what this help will do for us."

"Don't thank me yet. I have yet to start helping."

"Just unpack, and we'll get to the knitty gritty later. I'll be over here in my office if you need me."

Evelyn turned and left Haruhi by herself to unpack.

"Alright."

Haruhi turned around to go to her bed when something stopped her in her tracks. A set of black eyes stared up at her intent with curiosity. And then she noticed the ears. How could she not? They were huge!

"Uhm Evelyn?"

"Yes?" She called out from the office, completely absorbed in whatever it was that she was working on.

"What is this?"

Haruhi paid careful attention to not look away from the intruder or to make any sudden movements while she waited on Eve. The other girl peered in around Haruhi, and let out a short sigh.

"Oh, it's just Cairo. She thinks she's moved in here while I've been gone. I'm sorry."

Evelyn rushed forward and retrieved the persistent animal.

"I'm going to warn you now, I hope you don't mind a little bit of company tonight, she might just crawl in bed with you."

* * *

><p>Mori looked around the room in amazement to find that it was a modest two bedroom. His bed was next to the door while Honey's was next to the window, not that he minded. The interior reminded him of a commoner's hotel, but a little bit bigger. However, the walls might as well have been made of paper, Mori could hear the twins on one side and Kyoya and Tamaki (more of Tamaki than anything) on the other.<p>

"Mori-chan?"

"Hmm?"

He turned to face his cousin. Honey was holding Usa-chan while he sat down on the bed.

"Do you think Usa-chan will get along with the other animals?"

"I think it would be best is Usa-chan stayed behind, just in case."

Honey regarded the pink stuffed animal in his hand and sighed.

"Yeah, it looks like he needs a nap. I'll just leave him here then."

Mori said nothing as he wandered over to the window and peered out to survey the Conservation. It reminded him of the zoo, but it seemed a lot more natural to the animals, the boundaries were blurred, and even some of the other breeds of animals mingled together. All of them save one group: the predators.

Mori could only guess that if they were closer to the lake instead in the middle of the Conservation, they would find the crocodiles and hippopotamuses. He couldn't even spot what would most commonly be found in Africa: all the big cats.

'_I wonder if they are kept on a different side away from all of the temptation.'_

The boys of the Host Club couldn't help but stare in wonderment. The Turtle Hut was actually a lot better than what they thought it would be. It was a big building with a miniature island in the middle of the room. They had a walk way around the giant indoor pool and a bridge to the island, only accessible by walking. Hikaru and Kaoru started walking another way, leaving the others behind as they observed a lot of turtles of different shapes and sizes.

"There's so many Mori-chan!" Honey exclaimed as he bent closer to peer into the water. "Look at that one!"

Honey's small finger pointed to a large tortoise in the water, floating along until his attention went to Honey's finger.

"I would draw that finger back Honey."

A girl's voice called across the large room. Sure enough, as soon as the blonde pulled his finger back, a loud snapping sound resounded against the walls and around the room. Wide eyes and with a surprised squeak, Honey was instantly climbing up Mori and sitting on his shoulders with tears starting to form.

Evelyn shot Haruhi and unsure glance, but Haruhi was already walking to the boys.

"Thank you all for finding your way back here." Evelyn spoke up. "As you can see, there are a lot of buildings on the main grounds, and it will be easy to navigate your way around here. However, there will be some instances where we have to drive, but it shouldn't be too much. If you all will come with me, I will be happy to give you a quick tour on base, but I'll be leaving you all in the hands of Mjomba so he can drive you out to the other locations, though that might be tomorrow. Tonight I hope that we can decide where I should place you all. If you have any requests, please let me know now."

"I am assuming you have an office."

The boy with the glasses, _Kyoya?_, asked. Evelyn nodded.

"Yes. All of our records are there, but I will freely admit that it is a little bit chaotic. I haven't worked in there before, so if you know some way of making it better, I strongly encourage it."

"It'll be my pleasure."

The way his glasses glinted off the substitute sunlight made Evelyn shudder. She focused her attention on the others and took a deep breath in.

"If you will follow me, we'll get this done quickly."

It was hard for Evelyn to ignore the fact that some of the volunteers were a bit annoying; especially that tall blonde, Tamaki. However, she couldn't help but find his attitude towards her new friend cute. From what she could gather, they were together. And the twins were slightly jealous, and possibly incestuous, but she couldn't tell when they were faking or being for real. In the entire mess, Kyoya seemed to be the only one besides Haruhi who operated as a parental unit in the group; he was quick to make sure they stayed reasonable.

But what was a complete mystery to her were the small boy and the tall, silent guy, they seemed to be really close, but their relationship was different, it was more…protective?

She had shown them the main parts of the base and made sure to answer any questions that they had, which was a lot.

"Have you decided what jobs are you giving us?" The twins asked in sync.

Startled, Eve took a step back.

"I haven't decided yet. I showed you the main stuff today hoping you would request something."

"Nursery." Haruhi spoke up quickly. "I want to be in the nursery."

"Me too!" The blonde cried dramatically.

"Hey! Us too!" The twins cried out as well.

Evelyn caught the aggravation from Haruhi and made a mental note.

"Not everyone can work in the nursery. How about you two work in the Primate House as food chefs? It's not that hard of a job."

"That sounds boring." One of the twins complained. _Hikaru?_

"We don't like that kind of stuff?" The other, Kaoru possibly, groaned as well.

Eve crossed her arms.

"Well, what do you like?"

They gave each other a knowing look and smiled.

"Design."

Evelyn sighed. She had no idea what they could do to help and do something they enjoy.

"What if I had you work with the other small animals then as handlers? Could you handle that maybe? It'll be mostly with the foxes and meerkats and mongooses and any of Africa's smaller sized animals."

"What about me?" Honey cried out sadly. "I wanted to work with the small animals!"

'_Oh what a mess!'_

"How about this; Honey you can work with the small animals. If the twins work in the Turtle Hut for a while, I'll be sure to create a job when it gets closer to opening. There will be a lot of tourists who'll want shirts and stuff like that."

The twins shared a look and shrugged. "Okay, fine by us."

"What about Mori?" The little boy asked.

"And me?" Tamaki cried out dramatically.

"You're still in the nursery Tamaki."

"Oh glorious day!"

_Ah. The tall guy…'_

"Mori will be working with me at the Big Cat's pen. They need help with construction and I need help with moving. Are you okay with that?"

As if wanting permission from Honey, Mori looked down at the smaller boy who peered up at him and smiled.

"It's okay Mori-chan! I'm sure Eve-chan needs you more than I do!"

"Well now that it's settled, I'll leave you all to supper and tomorrow we start working."

A/N: I'm in need of a beta reader. Badly. I can't hardly stand it. Any takers? Let me know por favor! Oh, and this chapter was a bit hard to write for me because I tried to incorporate a lot of the characters, and tried to succeed… Anyways, please tell me how I did and if I can improve. Oh, and if you can think of anything that would be nice to be added, just let me know! Thanks for all of your support! By the way, I just finished watching the live drama to this, and I loved it! It was a little mix of the manga, anime and some of their own ideas! It was hard for me because I thought it should follow the anime, but I got use to the idea of it and enjoyed it! I encourage you all to watch it if you're interested!

Love,

Jazzy


	5. Day One

"No, no, no." Evelyn softly muttered while trying her best to keep her patience. She stepped in front of a twin, Hikaru she was sure, and retrieved the knife from his soft hands. "Whenever you have a knife in your hands, that's all that should be on you mind. There are many places where you could go wrong and end up hurting yourself because you were careless. Just slow down on cutting the lettuce, it's not like they're starving right away."

She showed him the proper way to cut the lettuce with the large knife, using the tip of the big blade as a lever, and came down slowly, wanting to shrink away from the sound of the crunching lettuce as it was sliced.

"See? Not hard. Just don't get distracted and remember to let everyone know that you have a knife when you leave the cutting table, okay?"

"There's an awful lot to remember for just cutting lettuce." Kaoru commented from the other side of Evelyn.

"Have you never used a knife before?" She asked the both of them, who instantly shook their heads.

"Never." Kaoru replied, bored.

"Ever."

"Where have you been all your lives?"

"Someone's always done this stuff for us."

Evelyn set the knife down and looked at the two of them.

"Wait, so who did this for you?"

"Our maids." They answered together.

"All of you?" She asked, surprised.

"Yep." Hikaru replied. "All of us but Haruhi. She's only a commoner."

"But we don't mind."

Evelyn stepped away from the table and studied them quickly.

"Well, if you have any questions to ask, don't hesitate. There's no such thing as a stupid question, just one not well thought out. Mjomba will be in later to check on you guys, so for now, Hannah will be happy to help."

Evelyn gestured to an older girl who was off in a corner, tending to a turtle. The British girl was oblivious to her volunteered position, and turned around when she felt staring eyes. Her brown eyes peered back at the trio, obviously confused.

"Uhmm… Hello?" She managed to squeak.

The twins shared a look and smiled a little bit too mischievously for Evelyn's liking.

"Just behave. I will see you all at lunch time maybe."

"All right. Just go already."

Evelyn smiled, knowing full and well that the twins might actually enjoy their work in the Turtle Hut more than they let on, and was satisfied at the thought of Hannah being around someone else instead of being by her all the time.

With a spring in her steps, Evelyn made her was across the worn path to the Animal Emporium to search for Mori. She knew that he had left with Honey this morning when they got up, and she was okay with it; they would have their agenda full today.

It wasn't to her surprise that she had found Honey crowded by foxes, all basically begging for attention, as if they were dogs.

But what surprised Evelyn the most was what laid in Mori's lap; a Honey Badger. There was no doubt about it. Her eyes were closed as she allowed this stranger to stroke her head, and if such animals could grin, she wore the biggest grin that Evelyn had ever seen on an animal.

"I'm deeply amazed." Evelyn spoke softly.

Both Mori and the Honey Badger looked up to see Evelyn watch them with wonder. After realizing the level it had been in, the Honey Badger rolled out of Takashi's lap and moved on to look for something to capture it's interest.

"Sorry to interrupt guys." Evelyn quickly apologized. "However, Mori and I have a lot to do today."

"Okay!" Honey was quick to jump on his feet and hug Mori. "Be good to Eve-chan!"

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows at the statement and sighed, Honey was a weird kid by far.

Honey literally skipped away from the pair and went through the double doors of the Emporium with all of the little critters trotting after him. Clearing her throat, Evelyn turned to face the tall and silent man.

"Okay, are we ready? Today we're going to be releasing some zebras back into the wild and then we'll check in on the others before we head back out again."

"Hm."

Evelyn turned on her heels and started to walk towards the jeep that sat at her place. She knew the guy behind her was following closely.

"So yeah, I'll show you where we'll mostly be working from, and that's the Lion's Den. It's located away from H.Q, but it needs more attention than most. Not a lot of people want to work with the lions to begin with, but that'll be after the relocation."

He remained silent, though he paid attention to every word she spoke. He studied her face when she talked about the lions, it seemed to darken at the thought that she was having issues, but he ignored the fact and kept in step with her.

When she was about to reach the green jeep, a dark figure stepped out in front of her path. Evelyn tripped herself and managed to keep from falling as she tried to avoid running into Kyoya.

"Miss Richards, there seems to be-"

She quickly held her hand up to stop him from speaking. She knew he would eventually find out, but she didn't know he would find out _this _soon. The hand managed to cut him off.

"I know what you wish to discuss. I will be back at lunch if you wish to discuss the details with me later, but please don't let anyone else know yet."

Kyoya's glasses flashed dangerously as he peered around her shoulder and found Mori, obviously trying to _not _listen.

"If you are late at lunch, I will not be happy."

"I won't be!" She huffed out angrily and turned to Mori. "Let's go before we get stopped again."

Evelyn lifted herself into the jeep and pulled out a set of keys. It wasn't too long before the jeep roared to life, and she sped out of the place quicker than usual. She couldn't help but feel a tad bit guilty for putting the problem off, especially in front of Kyoya and Mori. She bit her bottom lip and focused on the dirt road in front of her. For once, she was happy for Mori's silence, however uncomfortable it might be. Mori found himself watching the scenery pass before them and was in shock. The grass was abundant, and could easily see the glistening waters of the large lake. The wildlife was what caught his attention once again. There was a group of giraffes by the lake, hiding in the shade of an Umbrella Thorn tree. There were a couple of baby ones standing next to the adults, stretching their necks out as far as they could to reach the lower leaves so they could snack away. He could spot strange looking deer-like animals that had beautifully curved horns instead of antlers.

"What are those?" Mori ask curiously as he pointed towards them.

Evelyn glanced over long enough to analyze the animals he pointed at.

"Waterbucks. Don't let their names fool you though, they hate getting in the water."

As if she read his mind, Evelyn answered the unspoken question.

"They have sweat glands that produce waterproof fluid that coats their body."

Not too far from the others, but just far away enough, he also found two Warthogs happily rooting around the edges of the shore, making mud pits, possibly for themselves and future residents.

"Want to get close?"

Evelyn cocked an eyebrow at her suggestion. She was hoping he would agree.

"Yeah."

The jeep slowed down to a stop on the side of the road and the engine was quickly shut off. Standing up, Evelyn was quick to jump out of the jeep, and she headed towards the large tree where the giraffes were loitering. Mori was quick to follow her out of the jeep and kept a watchful eye on the Warthogs, regardless if they were occupied, he knew they could instantly harm them if they felt endangered by the human's presence. Much to his surprise though, Evelyn seemed to careless about the Warthogs, her entire attention was focused on a baby giraffe, who's attention was held by hers as well. As soon as the other giraffes spotted her, she froze on the spot and signaled for Mori to do the same. She then crouched to the ground, and watched them patiently as the baby wandered towards her.

'_Curiosity killed the cat.' _Mori thought solemnly as the baby was only feet away from the girl.

Evelyn closed her eyes and offered the baby her hand.

Her reward was a familiar roar from a far distance.

Instantly her head snapped up and she looked for the source, eyes wide and anticipating the attack. All of the animals started to move away and herd in the opposite direction of the roar. Evelyn stood to her feet and allowed the giraffe to return to its family. She turned her back and walked towards Mori quickly.

He fell into step behind her, but kept a look out for the predator until they had made it safely back to the jeep. She didn't hesitate to turn on the jeep and rip out of there quicker than when she had left the base. When Evelyn was certain they were safe, she let out a nervous giggle.

"What an exciting morning already! We managed to escape Africa's King."

Mori did not find that as amusing as she had, but he remained silent again.

Evelyn refrained from running off away from Mori; she was like a child on Christmas day. Her hazel eyes were lit up bright as if she was excited to play. Mori noted all of the people around greeting her loudly and she waved back at them.

"This is the Clinic, where we treat wounded animals, whether they are wild or from our facility." She explained. "Today, you and I will be taking a herd of Zebras and release them back into the wild."

"A herd?" That was a large number of Zebras, wasn't it?

Evelyn's face darkened a bit.

"Yeah. It's a sad story actually. We found them all together on the brink of starvation. Someone had put them in a holding pen and abandoned them. We lost three that night when we brought them back." Her voice faltered at the thought but she quickly shook her head. "However, we've managed to locate a large herd earlier this week and realized that they would probably be the best to accept our group."

Mori followed Evelyn as she chatted happily about different locations possible to release the Zebras and he tuned her in and out. It was when one of the workers scurried up to her and started speaking to her in Swahili. The boy the approached her seemed genuinely concerned and worried.

"Punda milia ni neva. Tunahitaji hoja yao hivi karibuni."*

Scowling, Evelyn brushed past him.

"Naam, kwamba ni nini tuko hapa kufanya. Je, kuchelewa kwetu zaidi."**

Mori noted the shift in her mood and quickly pased a glance at the boy that had talked to her. He looked a little embarrased and ran off to occupy his time somewhere else.

The herd was not hard to miss. In fact, they were moving around in the pen, nervous and frightened of all the activity around them.

Evelyn sighed and brushed her pesturing brown feather out of her hair.

"Stand by the gate, Mori." She spoke softly to him. "Open it when I tell you, okay?"

He nodded his head and followed her to the gate. There were shouts of disapprovement from some of the handlers as she enetered the pen, but with a quick look from her, they were silenced. The attention of the Zebras were instantly grabbed as they started to prance around the pen.

Mori was too busy watching her walk around the herd, surveying them and trying to gain their trust, to realize that another person joined him at the gate. Her face was tanned and scarred, but a hat protected her blonde head fron the sun. Her brown eyes were fixed intently on the Zebras and Evelyn. A boot propped itself up on one of the rails and gloved hands were crossed.

"Amazing, isn't she?" The older woman asked.

Mori nodded in agreement as she managed to calm the herd down and offered comfort to them.

"It's a gift that not many people get, but she's one damn lucky girl to be close to animals."

Still silent, Mori's attention went back to the commotion.

"I'm Evelyn's Aunt, Robin Richards, at your service. You must be one of the students from Japan, am I correct?"

Robin stuck her hand out to shake. Mori accepted it and shook hands.

"Morinozuka Takashi."

"Your English is good." The woman commented. "Is there a nickname I can call you? I'm afriad I can't pronounce your name to save my life."

"Mori."

"Open the gate Mori." Evelyn's demand was heard across the pen and Mori obliged.

The gate was opened slowly to reveal the back of the trailer, and Evelyn started walking towards it with one Zebra. The others were hesitant, but followed her lead. When the last Zebra was in, the trailer door shut with a quiet click instead of a loud slam. Evelyn made her way to the back door and one of the workers let her out. A triumphant smile was worn on her face as she dusted herself off and looked at Mori.

"Let's go!" She called out to him, then spotted her aunt. "Hello Aunt Robin! Are you wanting to join us on this adventure?"

She nodded her head.

"It's best if I do get some pictures for future refrences."

"Ah."

Evelyn fell silent as she glanced around the palce nervously.

"Well, don't keep us long."

"You know me too well _Batiti_." She teased and held up a large camera in her hand.

"Ah, but it is you who I underestimate S_hangazi***_ . You came prepared. Now quit making us late for our appointment. I have lunch with the devil today."

"That sounds bad. Or sexy. Which one do we want?"

Evelyn sighed frustrated, and shook her head.

"Get in the truck. Now."

"All right, all right. Come on Mori, let's not keep Queen Batiti waiting."

Lost in complete translation, Mori just nodded his head and followed Robin to the truck. Much to his surprise, once again, Evelyn jumped in the bed of the truck and held her hand out as Robin passed. The camera was passed off into the young woman's hands and a smile reappeared on her face.

Translation notes:

*The Zebras are getting nervous. We need to move them now.

**Well, that's what we're here for. Do not delay us any more.

***Aunt

Author's Notes: Whew! This was a long chapter! I didn't know I had this much in me, but here it is. And I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes, my spell check isn't wanting to work, and I don't know why it's not. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this, and I am excited about the feedback I've been getting, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you all again! :D

Oh, and thanks to my wonderful friend who pointed out my mistake! I just keep wanting to write uncle for some silly reason! D: I will break out of it, I promise!

Love,

Jazzy!


	6. Welcome to the Den

"Can you please explain to me this?"

Evelyn glanced at the paper that the dark haired teen held. His glasses glinted dangerously in the low light. Shrugging, Evelyn found her attention currently distracted.

"It's a birth certificate. I'm sure you have seen one before." She commented dryly. "I don't know what the problem is with it."

Kyoya huffed out and crossed his arms.

"You lineage. It seems as if you've been hiding something from us."

Evelyn's eyes flashed quickly as she found herself focusing on petting the sleeping Fennec Fox in her lap.

"I am sorry you didn't realize that my family is extremely wealthy. No one asked me and I assumed that you all knew just as much I knew about you all."

"Richards is a common last name."

"Yeah, but I just assumed."

Sighing, Kyoya leaned on her desk and crossed his arms sternly.

"Assumption doesn't get us anywhere. Why did you want me to keep it a secret if you're so nonchalant about the whole thing?"

"Because you seemed to be moved about what you had found, and I thought you had found something bad."

She knew she didn't sound so sure of herself, but she had to try.

"Don't lie to me."

Evelyn bit the inside of her cheek to keep her anger from lashing out. How right he was, though her wounded pride was hurting inside.

"You will find out, Mr. Ootori, that my father and I do not lean on our wealth as much as others do. This was built on the foundations of donated money and this government's money. We've not used a single penny out of our pockets to fund this conservation."

"And so it seems."

"Is this the end of our discussion?"

"Yeah. Just go enjoy your lunch."

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows together and frowned. Cairo opened an eye when she noticed her human ceased the pampering. With a little whine, Cairo pushed herself closer to Evelyn and urged her to continue petting her. Evelyn obliged.

"Why did you want the office?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I should feel obliged to get to know my volunteers."

They fell silent for a minute before Kyoya decided to answer.

"I am the Vice President of Ouran High School Host Club. I manage all of the personal files of our clients, raise money for our funds and completely control the accounts and dealing with anything they needed."

"So you worked like a CEO of the whole thing?"

Kyoya smirked and crossed his arms.

"You could call it that, yes."

"So can I expect you to put us in order then? The last guy that worked in your position went missing after we found out he was swindling money from us." She spoke seriously. "I don't know what happened to him, but I can only imagine what happens out here when the law is thin." She teased lightly.

Kyoya didn't chuckle, but turned his attention to his iPad. He instantly started scribbling stuff down and started to turn away from her.

"Well, I better get back to working."

Evelyn shook her head.

"Eat first, and then you can go back. The work load can wait for you to finish your meal. Besides, someone needs to keep Tamaki in his place."

"So you were a twin?" Two sets of honey colored eyes were instantly locked onto the older woman sitting across from them.

Her dark red hair was pulled back into a low pony tail but strands managed to escape. A large camera sat next to her in an empty chair, but her tray that once held food was empty. She propped her elbows up on the table and rested her head in her hands. When she had seen the twins, she couldn't wait to share their common qualities.

Hannah sat next to her mentor and stifled a frustrated sigh. Dark brown bangs fell into her eyes as her black hand used the fork to push salad back and forth, making it painfully obvious that she was trying to block out the conversation.

But Robin couldn't hold back a laugh to see the entire group's eagerness at the sudden topic.

"Well, yeah. I still am a twin you know. Her name is-"

"Are you guys ready to get back to work?" Evelyn stepped into the small cafeteria with Kyoya behind her. "We still have a lot to do Aunt Robin."

"Alright, alright! We're done anyways. Come on Honey! We are going to be whisked away if we're too slow!"

Giggling, Honey was quick to jump to his feet and follow Robin to the trash can. The others began to stand up and follow their suite.

"We're going to be feeding here in a bit, and Auntie Robin told me it took a while to prepare their food. Bye!" Honey called out as the two of them strolled out of the building.

Evelyn turned to the twins quickly.

"How's the Turtle Hut going?"

Grins were all the answers they needed.

"Hannah-chan reacts to every little thing we do." One of the twins, Hikaru possibly, teased.

"I do not; you guys are just-just- something!" Hannah huffed.

"You're just going to have to learn how to deal with us." The other one replied.

Laughing the twins wrapped an arm around Hannah and escorted her out of the doors to the Turtle Hut. Sighing, Evelyn turned to Haruhi and Tamaki.

"What about the nursery?"

"There's an awful lot work put in for babies." Tamaki started whining.

"But they need it." Haruhi reminded him.

"And that's why I'm doing it!" Tamaki started in again on his dramatics. Evelyn took a step back as he fell to his knees, holding a hand up in the air. "Those poor offspring needs someone to look after them, to nurture and love them. That is why I am Daddy!"

"Oh get a hold of yourself sempai." Haruhi scolded him and crossed her arms. "Everything is going good. We've still got a lot to do."

"I hope Mjomba is teaching you both well. There's a lot involved with the little ones."

"There is a ton of things to remember!" Tamaki cried.

"You'll get used to it. It's only your first day working still. Good luck, and if you need us, Mori and I will be over at the Lion's Den for the rest of the day until supper time."

"Good luck!"

Haruhi grabbed Tamaki by the scruff of the neck and dragged him out behind her as she waved to the remaining three.

"Well," Kyoya started. "It looks like I'll be heading back."

"Later."

Evelyn turned back to face Mori, only to find that he was already behind her. She jumped and gasped in surprise, but started giggling at herself.

"Ah, gomen." She apologized.

"You know Japanese?" Mori asked, surprised a little.

"Yeah. My brother has a fascination with the culture and he wanted to teach me how to speak the language before he moved there. Let's walk."

She guided Mori outside and towards the jeep once again.

"What does he do?" Mori asked, suddenly curious.

"He works at Tokyo Zoo as a vet."

Suddenly, it hit Mori. He remembers her from the zoo. That's where she first ran into him, literally.

"Ah."

And like that, he fell silent again.

It wasn't long before they had found themselves at a different location than the headquarters. There was another base set up in the canopy of the trees, much closer to the lake than Mori would have guessed. He couldn't help but notice Evelyn's anticipation while she drove. As soon as the jeep was parked, she literally flew out of the car and towards a pen with such grace, he barely noticed her gone.

"Welcome back Batiti!"

There were groups of men and women approaching the young woman, who smiled in return.

"Hello everyone. Thanks for taking care of everything while I was gone."

"It is not a problem." One man spoke. "We'll just return back home and see where we are needed now that you're back."

"Ah, go to the Refuge Center. They need some repair work there, and possibly the kitchens." She said.

"We will leave soon, I promise. But for now, would you like to see the cubs or the adults?"

"I know what I want to see." She answered, and then turned back to Mori. "If you would be so kind as to follow them, they'll show you what to do around here."

And like that, she disappeared, leaving Mori in the hands of a strange man.

"Ah," a woman spoke. "She's gone off to see Nala."

"Her and her lions." The man next to Mori spoke. "I'll be surprised if Nala doesn't ignore her. That lioness knew she was home since the day she got off that plane."

"Has she told you of anything that she does here?" An older woman turned to the quiet volunteer.

Mori shook his head, only to receive a laugh from the man. "I'm not surprised. We'll let you see for yourself."

Curious, Mori followed the group of people as they chatted casually in their native tongue about Evelyn he assumed. They climbed a set of stairs that lead to one of the taller structures of the head quarters and over looked the entire opening.

"Look."

Mori followed the pointing finger, and spotted Evelyn quickly. However, he could see what kind of situation she was in. Her back was turned to a great lioness who lurked in the tall grass and watched her closely. Evelyn was paying attention to something entirely different, but Mori's view was blocked. Then, much to Mori's horror, the lioness sprang from the tall grass and rushed at Evelyn. He tensed up and was ready to jump to her help, but was stopped by a hand.

"She's fine. Trust us." The woman spoke.

Mori watched the elderly woman, unsure, but his attention went back to Evelyn when he heard her squeal with surprise as the lioness landed on her and rolled her on the ground.

Evelyn felt her breath get knocked out before she hit the ground hard. Her eyes grew wide as she realized what had jumped on her and she raised her arms up to protect her face.

Mori started to move to help the girl, but a hand stopped him.

"Just watch."

Giggles ruined the entire effect as Evelyn squirmed under the lioness, trying to break free of her relentless tongue.

"Ah! It's scratchy! Stop it Nala!" Evelyn squealed as the lioness began to lick her head, and then proceeded to grab her by the collar of her shirt.

"We could help her." The woman offered gently.

"Nala would hate us if we interrupted her." The man spoke again. "Let's go get our stations packed up."

A/N: Hello all! As I have been informed, I do not have a set deadline, and if I do, I won't meet them! I'm sorry! I've been super busy with work and college and life in general, but I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON THIS STORY! However, I am going to be gone for a week or two (not that I already have been) but I'm going to be spending my Thanksgiving night on a charter bus to Atlanta Georgia for a National 4-H Congress meeting, and I will be soo busy and too tired to do anything. So, have a happy Thanksgiving everyone! Eat stuffing and turkey for me (and if you ever wanted to know, the dark meat is my preference) and enjoy the holiday if you are on one! I'm also still in need of a beta, if anyone is interested.

Love,

Jazzy! :D


	7. Refugees

"Wow Haruhi." Evelyn commented as she watched a young chimp cling onto the young Japanese school girl while she gave it a bottle. The two of them sat on a couch with monkeys of their own to tend to." He seems attached to you."

"Yeah. I am having a lot more luck then senpai. Besides, you seem to be doing well with her."

Evelyn looked at the small baby in her arms and smiled.

"I am animal behaviorist. This is my specialty. What do you mean about Tamaki though?"

Evelyn followed Haruhi's pointing finger to the kitchen table where Tamaki was making a hot pot of milk replacement. His eyes were captivated while he stirred the hot milk. It seemed like he was frying to fight off tears and a dark aura of gloom.

"Is he okay?"

Haruhi shrugged and adjusted the grip of the baby monkey.

"He was upset when all of the tiny animals bit him or ignored him. Mjomba told him that making the milk is as important as feeding it. Since then, he has been like that. But he will break out of it soon I'm sure."

Evelyn had to stifle a goggle when his eyes lit up as soon as he recognized the fact that the two girls were talking about him. He glided away from the stove top and headed towards the pair of curious eyes.

"How nice must it be for you two to have girl time! Wait, where's Mori-senpai?"

"I dumped him in the hippo tank." Evelyn answered freely. "They would be done ripping him to shreds by now."

"What?" the two Japanese teens looked shocked. Evelyn stopped and put her hands up in a surrender gesture. "I was teasing. They needed more muscle to help unload crates. He should be here soon."

"But hippos wouldn't really tear apart humans, would they?" Tamaki held two fists over his mouth as if he was afraid to find out.

Evelyn nodded.

"They could. They are considered as one of Africa's deadliest animals, much like the crocodiles and the lions. I wouldn't like to meet one up close and personal."

The monkey in Evelyn's arms started to squirm around and ignored the bottle. She was ready to play.

"Tamaki, are you even watching the milk? If it scorches, you will need to make another batch."

His beautiful face fell and he scrambled to the stove with a dramatic cry.

"No!"

Evelyn grinned to Haruhi as he kept continuing with his theatrics.

"Well, this little girl is ready to play. I am gonna let her back in with the others."

Evelyn stood up and set the baby on the ground. Holding her hand out, the small primate reached up and wrapped its small fingers around Evelyn's pinky finger. The girl turned around and flashed a meaningful glance to Haruhi.

"Would you like to join me?"

Haruhi nodded and readjusted her grip on the little monkey.

Evelyn held the door open for Haruhi and the two casually entered the room for the baby monkeys. Their cries of playfulness resounded off the walls, and the two babies the girls once held took off to play with their friends.

Haruhi studied Evelyn carefully as she watched the little ones bounce around in small trees and climbed on the play ropes.

"You have a question, don't you?"

A frustrated sigh was all that came from Evelyn for a few seconds.

"Is Takashi _always_ silent?" She finally asked. "I mean, sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall."

Haruhi smiled in relief and bent over to a monkey that was holding its arms out for her to pick up.

"He is just like that."

"I just feel like he doesn't care."

"Because he's silent?"

Evelyn folded her hands and nodded her head.

"Yeah. I'm not used to the silence, though it can be awkward sometimes. Besides, it's already been a week!"

Haruhi had to keep from laughing as she stood up to face Evelyn.

"Trust me, he cares. If it's to do with animals or Honey-senpai, he cares."

The door opened and brought the end of the girls' conversation. Both of them turned to see Mori standing in the door way. Evelyn's face flushed pink a little, as if she was embarrassed about almost getting caught talking about him, but it quickly faded.

"Ah, you are back! Let's get to the Lion's Den then, shall we?"

Her hard eyes watched Mori carefully as they could. Her hands rested on her waist, and she was completely unmoving.

"Mori, I have had an epiphany." Evelyn stated firmly as she watched the guy in front of her. However, her posture was quickly distracted when the wind blew hair in her face, causing her feather to attack her eye. Quickly, Eve batted it away and regained her composure.

"I hope it didn't hurt." Mori replied, though slightly amused with her.

Evelyn stopped and felt a small smile play on her lips before she giggled.

"Well, he makes jokes! That is new! Anyways, I am fine and perfectly sane." Shaking her head, she moved on. "Anyways, I think I have found a way to make you journal for your school a little more exciting. Would you like to join me when I visit Nala and Simba? Besides, we're rotating environments today, and I think it'll be a good experience to the pride if I introduce another human."

Mori raised a curious eyebrow. '_Nala AND Simba? Disney should really not influence this girl.' _Mori thought to himself, though he said instead; "And you want that someone to be me? Why?"

"Because you are inexperienced with working the lions or any other large, ferocious animals. Besides, I'm not worried about you; that Honey Badger took a great liking to you, and those things are fearless. If that was easy to approach, then these guys will be nothing. Come on!"

Her excitement was almost contagious as she turned on her heels and flipped a lever on the gate. It swung open silently, inviting the two teens inside to its mysterious domain.

Large trees stood protectively all around the environment, the large leaves were practically blocking out the sun to their best abilities. Vines dangled from the tree tops, and rocks lounged lazily next to the fence.

Evelyn glanced around and frowned.

"They're not out an about." There was a small hint of worry in her voice.

Her eyes flashed up to the tree tops, and she studied them closely, looking for lurking shadows or hints that the lions were watching them. Mori was watching too, looking hard into the darker parts of the habitat, but to no avail.

"I have an idea."

Evelyn pushed forward into the thick brush and listened closely. The frown on her face turned into a scowl.

"We're being hunted." She spoke gently as she scooted herself closer to Mori for his protection. A grumble filled the silence followed by a loud roar.

"Don't make any sudden movements. They smell you and are trying to decide if you're a friend or foe."

And then, a nose poked through the tall brush and sniffed. Behind it was a pair of golden eyes that studied Mori. He didn't seem surprised at all; he had heard the male approaching long before Evelyn could.

The King moved out of the brush and approached Mori with a very purposeful stride. The lion walked a circle around Mori, sniffing and trying to decide whether this was a man to be trusted or not.

It was not long before Nala stepped out of the brush to greet her human. The lioness shoved her head in Evelyn's open hands and proceeded to purr in delight. Evelyn giggled, and complied to rub the feline's head.

Simba, as Mori had decided, sat down in front of Mori, watching him expectantly. Mori straightened up and slowly approached the lion with his hand stretched out. The lion was unmoving, and allowed the strange human to touch his large mane. Another hand joined his first one, and soon, Mori and Simba were bonded. It was not long before the remaining members of the pride joined the two humans, curious as to the new comer. They all crowded around him and instantly begged for his affection. Evelyn sat down comfortably on the grass with Nala next to her, both of them watching the scene before them. At the time, everything seemed perfect.

Nala heard them before Evelyn did, but both of them saw the clouds of dust coming from afar. A frown scowl appeared on her face as she stood up.

"I'll be back." Evelyn spoke. "Stay here with them, please Mori?" A nod was her answer.

Nala stood up and followed her human out of the pen to help greet the new comer. When the jeep got closer, Evelyn recognized it to be Mjomba, and he did not look happy at all. The driver was her aunt Robin.

'_Something must be wrong.' _She suddenly assumed, and went to meet them at the parking spots with Nala following close behind her. The other lions acknowledged the presence of the vehicle and some moved to the fence line to watch the scene. Simba stood up, only to walk closer to Mori, rub against his leg like a giant cat, and lay down next to the Japanese teen.

"What's wrong?" Evelyn asked as soon as the jeep neared them.

"We have an issue back at main." Robin spoke first.

"There's been a raid on one of the smaller tribes south from here." Mjomba continued.

"How far south?" Evelyn quizzed.

"Far enough for us to not worry about it. We're in the right district." Robin soothed.

"Anyways, there are only seventy five refugees, searching for somewhere to stay until the army comes to retrieve them and help them rebuild." Mjomba continued.

"We are the only place they thought they could turn to." Robin added in. "Besides, you're father left you in charge, so you get to call the shots."

Evelyn sighed and looked back to the lion's pen, to find Mori and the others watching her. She waved Mori to come out and turned back to the adults.

"I'll be up there in a few. Until then, tell the kitchen to prepare meals for these people."

"This is a bad idea." Mjomba

"It's an idea for me to decide." Evelyn replied slowly as she sat down in her chair. A frown creased across her face as she studied the nine faces that were watching her. "What are you guys doing here?" That question was directed to the Host Club.

"Mori came in with you." Robin spoke up for the silent teen.

"And wherever you find Mori, you find Honey." Kyoya added. "Besides, when I heard what was going on, I thought you'd need an advisor, and I volunteered myself."

"And I was dragged here by these three idiots." Haruhi mumbled, waving her hand at Tamaki and the twins. "They were curious as to what was going on."

Sighing, Evelyn leaned her elbows on the desk she was sitting at and propped her chin in her hands.

"Everyone but Aunt Robin, Mjomba and Kyoya needs to leave. The kitchen is in need of help."

Tamaki's eyes grew wide and tears sprang to them instantly. He stuck his lower lip out and made it tremble pitifully.

"B-but why does mommy get to stay?" He managed to finally wail.

Narrowing her eyes, Evelyn glared at Tamaki.

"_Kyoya_ gets to stay because he is another opinion that could be needed."

And like that, the group left, Mori being the last to leave. He even managed to cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure everything was going to be okay.

"We can not possibly decline anyone shelter and a home, especially a time in need." Evelyn spoke first.

"This is not a wise decision, Evelyn." Mjomba fought back, this time a little more frustrated.

"Please explain to me why this would be bad, Mjomba?" Evelyn gave her full attention to her mentor, though at the moment she was not agreeing with him.

"We do not have the funds to buy for these people. Besides that, our deadline won't be reached either, or did you forget? Not only that, but we have no idea as to why the rebellion attacked these people in the first place."

"The rebellion doesn't need a reason to attack people. They are bullies, looking for riches and women." Robin argued back.

Evelyn bit her bottom lip and turned to Robin.

"Well, what do you have to say?"

"It's your decision here, sweetie."

"Kyoya?" Evelyn turned to him.

He shrugged.

"Financially, you could support them, though your budgets will have to be revised. Besides, they could return the favor to you some day."

Evelyn turned silent and stood up from her chair.

"We will not deny people their refuge. We need to get them set up in tents and whatever else they need. I will make a list and run into town for supplies. Aunt Robin, please see to the people and if any of them need any medical attention, grab a vet or two if you need to. Mjomba, help locate spots to set tents up. I will be back soon, so until then, please look after this place. I have the radio. Meeting dismissed."

Grabbing a notebook, Evelyn was the first to leave her office and step out to the conservation. She stopped in her tracks when she studied the scene before her. The refugees were scattered everywhere in different sized groups, looking shell shocked and at a loss for words. They were not like any of the other Africans she had encountered, but a true tribe. The clothing and piercings told her all she needed to know. All of the eyes instantly went to her small figure, and they fell silent. One man stood up tall and started to approach her.

"Are we allowed to stay?"

She could only assume he was their chief from the spear in his hand and the markings all over his bare, dark skin. His piercings were far greater than the others, and a hint of wisdom shone in his eyes.

Evelyn nodded as she felt the presence of someone behind her. She knew all too well that it was her aunt.

"You are free to stay here until someone comes to retrieve you. This is Robin, and she will see to it that your people are treated for any wounds or sickness. The cafeteria is currently open, and I will return tonight with tents, blankets and supplies for you all."

Those dark eyes, if they could be any lighter, lit up.

"We are most grateful to you."

Evelyn shook his hand and smiled again.

"If you need anything while you are here, come find me or my aunt, please."

Right now, she was not going to trust Mjomba. It was not like him to oppose the idea of helping people, especially his people. She would send a letter out to her father while she was in town and inform him of their current state.

A/N: I would like to personally thank my one, strong reviewer, The Midnight Shadow Star, who has reviewed every single chapter relentlessly! I appreciate your support throughout all of this madness, and your offer to beta for me, however, I have found someone already, but I must thank you again and again! And to the others, Rose Thourn, Vivid, and the oh-so wonderful and loyal reader, Ayjah (who has followed me since I started writing everything), XxSilentHostessxX, and JapaneseClute thank you all. I hope I haven't run anyone off yet. Anyways, I am going to warn you all now, this might be a bit longer than I intended because I have a bazillion ideas running through my head as of now! .

Love,

Jazzy


	8. The Prophet's Daughter

Evelyn's eyes watered and she bit her lip, keeping a cry from emerging. It hurt. So bad. But she wasn't going to break down in front of the three foreigners, Haruhi, Mori and Honey, but especially not in front of Mjomba and her aunt.

She was doing well with keeping a cry in, but it was the clattering of the hammer that gave her away.

"Are you okay?"

The familiar dark voice brought Evelyn out of her self-pity.

'_Damnit Mori! Can I make it?'_

Now all eyes were on her as they waited patiently for her to answer.

"I hammered my finger on the stupid tent poles." She managed to get out without crying.

"Here Eve." Aunt Robin was the first one to respond as she stepped forward and captured her niece's injured finger in her large hands. "That looks just fine." She peered over the finger to Evelyn. "What are you making a big deal about?"

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows and shoved her finger closer to Robin.

"It's turning purple."

"Oh, no one said I'd make a good nurse." Robin tosses out carelessly. "Ice will make it feel better."

"You need to go to the First-Aid station." Mjomba stated. "This is nothing to take light of."

"I'm not dying. It's a bruised finger. I will go to the kitchen real quick and come back."

It was starting to throb and Eve quickly excused herself. She could instantly envision Tamaki's overly dramatic reaction when she would ask for ice, so she made a mental note to try and avoid him and the twins. She noted that some people were already filling in the open-faced tents, and much to her surprise, the older teen with glasses was sitting across an old man, with a clip board in hand, and a flash light in another. His hands were covered with gloves, and she realized that he was actually tending to one of the refugees. She wanted to approach him, but a sudden throb brought her back to her mission: the kitchens.

It wasn't long before she maneuvered herself around the mass of people and trucks to make it to the back entrance to the kitchen.

After knocking on the door, she slipped in and saw the kitchen in a hurry with food. She managed to scoot out of the way of someone with a tray of food.

"Evelyn?"

The girl's head perked up at the sound of her name and she quickly scanned the kitchen, looking to see the owner of the voice. Much to her comfort, it was only Hannah.

"Oh, Hannah." Evelyn sighed in relief. "How are things going in the kitchen?"

"Well, at first it was rough." Hannah admitted. "The twins didn't want to do anything at all. But then, when Tamaki came in, he only made the situation even worse."

"So, are they helping at all?"

Hannah nodded her head.

"Yeah, they are now."

Evelyn raised her eyebrows, surprised with the comment. She thought they would prove to be more stubborn.

"What made them change their minds?"

A blush quickly spread up Hannah's cheeks as she quickly turned away to focus her attention on something else.

"I gave them a lecture."

Evelyn bit back a surprised laugh.

"W-what? A lecture?"

"Oh shut up!" She giggled and turned back to Evelyn. "But never mind that, what is it that brings you to the kitchen?"

Hannah's eyes grew wide when Evelyn held up the now purple finger.

"An ice pack, please."

"I can do that. Stay here."

Hanna left Evelyn in the food closet, much to her dismay. Sighing, Evelyn poked her head out of the pantry and studied the kitchen staff, scurrying around everywhere, trying to provide enough hot food for the newcomers. However, she didn't spot the three foreigners.

She crept out a little further again, and this time, she did find them. They were standing at the serving line, dishing out food onto plates and offering comforting smiles to the surprised natives. It wasn't long before Evelyn found herself smiling at the scene.

'_I guess they are that bad.'_

Hannah was quick to return with a small pack of ice.

"Here, I did the best I could without getting in trouble. I had to sneak it when Chef wasn't looking, so you better be grateful."

"You know I owe you big time."

"You do indeed. I can't believe you left those stupid twins with me, by the way. But that's another bone I got to pick with you later."

"Thanks again." Evelyn reminded her before Hannah jumped back to working in the kitchen.

"Is that everything set up?"

Evelyn turned her attention to Kyoya, who was now just approaching the group that was putting the final touches on the tent- cots and blankets.

"Yep! We're all done here Kyo-chan!" Honey replied cheerfully as he picked up his stuffed, pink bunny from an empty cot.

Evelyn smiled at everyone.

"Good job today! Go get supper, and we can call it a night."

Robin studied her niece as she headed in the opposite direction of the mess hall and a scowl appeared on her face. A gust of wind blew Evelyn's feather in her face, but it was ignored by the teen.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I haven't seen the lions today, but I wanted to make sure everyone got settled in the tents and see if they needed anything else."

Before anyone could offer to join her, she had taken off towards the refugees. It wasn't long before she found herself crouched down in front of a group of small children, chatting happily with them until an adult came.

It was an older woman, closer to Robin's age, and she watched Evelyn with careful eyes. Evelyn straightened up and approached the woman with a smile.

"I worry not about you. They call me Fatima*. You must be Ayouluwa**."

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows together and studied the woman.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

It was then that Evelyn fully surveyed the woman and recognized the colors and wardrobe of the religious leaders in a traditional tribe. She was decorated with bright colors of jewelry and the markings on her represented her high status in the tribe.

"Ayouluwa? Why did you call me that?"

Fatima smiled gently and gestured towards a tent that Evelyn could only assume was her family's tent.

"Please, step inside."

Obliging her wishes, Evelyn stepped inside the large tent, and looked around. Even though the tents were only put up hours ago, Fatima was quick to make it her home with little items that she brought with her. A set of spears sat by the flap and the cots held some clothes and blankets.

"Is it safe to assume that you speak for the tribe?" Evelyn asked.

"No. It is my brother who is in charge." Fatima spoke from the entrance of the tent and studied Evelyn again.

"Please tell me what this is about. I can't be gone too long, I have to tend to the-"

"Lions. I know. We all know."

"This is confusing."

Fatima smiled again and sat down on a mat. Evelyn was quick to join her, but her nerves weren't settled when she sat.

"Please explain what's going on. Why did you guys come here and not go directly into town? We're a lot farther off than the town is."

"You are full of questions." Fatima chuckled slightly. "But I will explain the best I can."

Evelyn got more comfortable on the ground as she could. She had a feeling she would hold onto every word of the story.

"My father was the prophet of the tribe. It was only last month when he made a prediction. But this one was a lot different than any of the others."

"How so?"

Fatima's face grew troubled as she looked away from Evelyn.

"He spoke of death and destruction on our village. However, he did speak of a savior; of a woman who wore the feather of our ancestors and seeks to save the children of Africa."

"The children of Africa?" Evelyn echoed. Then the thought hit her. "The animals, am I correct?"

Fatima nodded.

"Yes. He said we would be safe in your hands."

Her stomach felt like it had dropped suddenly and the earth beneath her butt just opened up. She was quick to get to her feet.

"I-I will proved whatever it is that you all need until the militia comes to collect your tribe and return you to your new homes."

"I have upset you."

Evelyn was quick to maneuver around the sitting priestess and shook her head.

"No. I just think you might have the wrong person." Evelyn turned her back to the woman and sighed. "If you or your people need anything, please notify us."

"You are going to the lions, aren't you?" Fatima watched Evelyn closely again, to the point it made Evelyn very nervous again. "When you are ready again, I will be here to talk to you Ayouluwa."

Evelyn remained silent as she continued her retreat to the lions.

"You're troubled."

The sound of Mori approaching made Evelyn almost jump. However, she refrained, keeping all of her attention on running her fingers through the thick mane of Simba. The lion held his head high, but his eyes were closing gently as he enjoyed the sensation of Evelyn's fingers. Oh he was one happy lion that much was sure. The only way the lion acknowledged Mori's presence was a flick of his ear.

"How could you tell?"

"Fatima."

"Oh."

Mori studied the girl in front of him. She was lying down, right next to the lion as if it was a giant puppy dog, and she didn't seem bothered by it. Nala was lying on the other side, eyes closed and snoozing.

As childish as it seemed, Evelyn wrapped her arms around Simba's neck and hugged him tightly so she could hide her face away.

"Who else is with you?"

"Just me." Haruhi answered.

Evelyn started to move away, until she heard other voices add in.

"Me too!" Cute and childlike. Honey.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" A twin argued.

"Not to mention myself included."

"And Daddy too!" Tamaki. That just _had _to be Tamaki. "What are you doing? It's dangerous!"

Evelyn peered through the wisps of Simba's mane and found to her relief that all of them, save Mori, were standing behind the fence.

"It's only dangerous if you guys enter the pen without my approval. Mori's just luck because Simba likes him."

"Well, that's understandable." Kyoya replied simply.

"What do you guys want?" Evelyn returned to hiding in the mane.

"We hadn't seen this part of the conservation yet." A different twin…_Kaoru?_... answered instead.

"Feel free to look around." She grumbled.

"We don't know where we are going!" Tamaki cried out. "What if we get lost and eaten? What will you do?"

"Laugh!" She couldn't help but recall a certain scene of West Side Story, but she instantly shook it off. "I would feel bad about you guys getting eaten, but surely someone in your group would be wise enough to keep you all out of trouble."

"That's why we have Haru-chan, Mori-chan and Kyo-chan." Honey answered honestly.

"But even then, we still don't know our way around." Hikaru answered.

"So you're going to make me leave this comfortable spot?"

"That's the idea." Kyoya answered.

"But it doesn't look comfortable. You're lying with lions. Aren't you worried?"

Evelyn lifted her head and glanced between Simba and Nala.

"I am pretty sure I'm safe. There's no reason to worry about myself."

And for once she believed it.

*Fatima-Prophet's Daughter

**Ayouluwa- Joy of our people

A/N: Hello everyone who is reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I still am pretty far from what I wanting to do, but that's okay. So sorry this is taking long. I've had to worry about work and take my first set of finals for college. It was hard, but I'm through it! Yay! Happy holidays too! This chapter came out a lot easier than I thought it would, so that made me happy! I'm going to try to finish it before my winter break is over. Anyways, tell me what you guys think! I would love feedback. I fought a hard battle, by the way. I wanted to end it on a cliffy, but I decided I'd be nice. Who knows when I'm going to update again to keep you guys satisfied?

Oh, and once again, special shout-outs to:

The Midnight Shadow Star- you deserve cookies. And I mean a billion cookies. Thank you for reviewing EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER! It means the world to me, I swear!

AND

Bloodcherry- I was going for originality. It's getting a bit harder to find stories that are original now, but I wanted to contribute to the cause. :D Thanks for the review and alert.

Thanks for everyone who is reading and favoriting/alerting this story. It does mean a lot to me.

Love,

Jazzy


	9. Songea

A sigh escaped Evelyn's lips. This would be the fifteenth time that night that she even attempted to sleep but found that she couldn't. She was tired, but her body decided it had other plans for her. Fatima's words still ate at her. Groaning, Eve flipped onto her stomach and buried her head in her pillow, willing for sleep to come, but it refused. Instead, she flipped out her cell phone and checked the time.

'_5:17? Already?'_

Deciding sleep was not going to come; Eve flipped her covers off quickly and made her way into her office, trying her best to not disturb Haruhi. Cairo was quick to jump to her feet and patter in after Eve, hoping for a treat or attention of some sort.

Plopping herself down at the desk, Eve turned on her laptop and was quick to search out treats for Cairo. Her hands found a bag of beef jerky, but Evelyn was quick to use it as treats.

However Evelyn's mood worsened when she realized her email was empty.

"Come on." She groaned again, but a little quieter than normal so she wouldn't wake Haruhi up.

Deciding that the lack of a response was a waste of her time, she turned her attention on getting ready for the day.

When she stepped out of the shower houses, she was still the only one that she could spot in the 'village'.

However, her attention was instantly grabbed by synchronized shouts. Sounds of wood hitting wood resounded off the walls of the wooden buildings. Furrowing her eyebrows, Evelyn pursued the ruckus to investigate the source. When she found herself in the newly added tent section of the conservation, she instantly had an idea of what was going on.

Her answer came when she rounded the corner and found Fatima teaching a large group of young children, all armed with spears. Adults stood off to the side, watching the young ones learn how to master the spear to use in combat. They all looked pretty skilled for younger ones, but Fatima was the one that held the most grace. Another person joined next to her, and much to her surprise, it was the tall and silent Mori. The two of them shared a small glance, but then their attention was drawn back to the training.

Breakfast was loud for the group, which wasn't unusual. It just bothered Evelyn a little bit. She managed to stay focused on her eggs as she pushed them around her plate. Finally deciding which piece looked delicious enough, she shoved it in her mouth and began to pursue her next piece.

"You're awfully silent today Eve."

"I'm still waking up." She replied a little bit shortly. "I did not sleep well last night."

"Why is that?" Robin asked, suddenly interested.

Evelyn tried her best to not scowl.

"I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"Oh?" Kaoru pipped up.

"What kind of things?" Hikaru answered.

"Must be pretty important if you're this quiet already." They chimed in together.

"It's not that bad." She bit back a frustrated sigh and placed her fork down on the plate. "I've just got a lot to do today."

"Maybe we can help you out." Haruhi offered.

"You can't unless you are willing to plan out a Wildlife Fund Gala that's going to be in a few more weeks. Not only that, but I'm also going to town today to pick up more supplies and send word out that we have refugees staying here."

"A gala, you say?" Kyoya looked up from his iPad with a glint of light hitting his glasses.

"We organize those all the time!" Tamaki exclaimed. "It's what we do at our school!"

"Yeah. We're not called the Host Club for nothing!" Honey giggled as he squeezed Usa-chan.

Evelyn instantly sat up straighter and studied them.

"You guys could really do that?"

"Trust us, we can." Hikaru answered for the group.

"However-" The word was drawn out and everyone's attention went directly to the Shadow King. "That means you lose a few volunteers. Are you okay with that?"

Evelyn nodded quickly.

"We can handle that. The refugees offered their help anyways and I can just get them to fill in for you."

"Is there a budget?" Kyoya pressed on.

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows.

"Don't get crazy. My family pays for it anyways, so we've never really followed a tight budget."

"What kind of guests attend?"

"Only the super-rich from all over the world. I have a guest list already on my lap top. You're free to get into it."

The host club and Robin watched the exchange between the two carefully; it was like they had forgotten everyone else while they were talking about business.

"Alright, so everything is settled." Evelyn sighed with a smile. "Thank you a lot. How can I repay you?"

She seemed sincere about her offer, but Kyoya smiled instead.

"Think of it as a favor. When we need you in the future, you should be obliged to pay us back."

"Deal. I'll go ahead and make sure the reservations at the hotel are still good."

"Good."

"Can I take Haruhi to town with me?"

"Can we go too?" Four voices cried out in unison.

Evelyn was taken aback by the sudden outbursts from the twins, Tamaki and Honey that she almost fell out of her chair. Haruhi let out a short sigh and shot Evelyn an apologetic look.

"The twins and Tamaki can't go, I need their help." Kyoya intervened. "But I don't see why Honey can't tag along."

"Yay!" Honey cheered as happily as he could and threw Usa-chan in the air to celebrate. Then he stopped and looked at Evelyn with those huge puppy-dog eyes. "Can Mori-chan come too?"

"If that's what Mori wants to do, then he can come along. I still have some things to do before we can go though, so you guys can relax until then."

"We want to help wherever we can."

'_Of course you do.'_

"Wow! There are so many people here!" Honey cried out, watching the busy streets of Songea.

"Which is why you need to keep close to us Honey." Evelyn was quick to remind him then turned to Mori. "You did do what I asked, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I don't want anyone to run into trouble because of money."

Earlier Evelyn had asked Mori and Haruhi to not bring much cash with them to town; there would be a good chance that the four would attract unwanted attention if someone had slipped up. The four of them walked side by side while Evelyn pointed out different buildings and chatted happily about them.

"And this is where we need to be. I'll run in and drop the supply list and money off so they can load while we go and report the refugees."

Evelyn quickly slipped in and was out in a short amount of time. She smiled to her group and urged them on.

"Do they not need help loading?" Haruhi asked slowly as she watched a large group of men begin to carry out the baskets full of provisions and medical supplies they needed.

"I learned it was best to stay out of their way. They know where the Jeep is and they always take good care of us."

"Is that the police department?" Honey asked, pointing his small fingers towards a large building.

"Er, not exactly, but it's where we need to be."

"What is it then?" Haruhi asked.

"The Military headquarters."

"Can we come in?" Honey peered up at her with his big soft eyes once again.

"Why not?" Evelyn answered. With a cheer, Honey took off towards the building with Mori in tow. Sighing, Evelyn hung back with Haruhi as she finished the rest of her statement. "You'll just probably be bored though."

"Honey-senpai will not be bored." Haruhi was quick to correct her. "Mori and Honey's families are well known for their martial arts status, and they train armies for hand-to-hand combat."

"No way!"

Evelyn looked at the little boy who was chatting happily to Mori about the different scenery.

"It's true. They're national winners. Honey excels in Karate, Mori in Kendo."

"This one, right Eve-chan?" Honey asked as he pointed at the door to the entrance.

"Yeah, that's the door."

The door was pushed open and revealed the lobby of the headquarters. It was a small room, infact. A desk sat in the middle of the room with two doors on either side leading to the back and main part of the building. Sitting behind a desk was a young man, close to his middle twenties. He instantly snapped his head up when he heard the door open and smiled when he recognized Evelyn.

"Hey Evelyn, it's been a while."

She returned the smile, though it was not as warm as her other ones.

"Yes, it has. I didn't know you joined the military Brandon."

"Yeah. It's recent though. Who are your friends?"

"Volunteers from the Conservation. This is Haruhi Fujioka, Taskashi Morinozuka and Honey Mitsukuni."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." The young man addressed them, but he was quick to turn his attention back to Evelyn. "What brings you here today?"

"I wish to report a raid. The surviving members of a tribe that's far south of us was attacked came to the conservation seeking refuge."

"How many?"

"Close to seventy-five."

Brandon was instantly on his computer, quick to type out a report as he questioned her about the refugees. It wasn't long before the process was over.

"We will send out a group to collect them and help them be relocated in the next week or so. We'll try our best. Thanks for helping them out Evelyn."

"It was nothing we couldn't handle. I just don't want them to be homeless. I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Take care of yourself."

Evelyn didn't answer him as she walked out of the office quickly. Confused, Haruhi and Honey waved at the guy behind the desk before they followed her out. When they cleared the building, Evelyn was still wearing a scowl.

"Well, that was awful." She muttered.

"Who was that Eve-chan?"

"Just an ex. That's all. Let's finish up our chores, shall we?"

A/N: Wow. It was hard to get over my writer's block. I'm sorry it took so long to come out with this chapter. It also doesn't help that I picked up Minecraft… . Anyways, I hope you guys were okay with this section. I know nothing exciting happens, but I must keep moving somehow. It is getting ready to get more action-y and dramatic but in a good way. We're only at the beginning of the hill to say in the least. Thanks again to my faithful reviewer, The Midnight Shadow Star once again and I am always open for critique and helpful ideas. I want to improve and the one of the many ways is through feedback. Well, I'm off to bed. Getting ready to go back to college, so I'll try to get this done before then! I love you guys!

Love,

Jazzy


	10. Sparks

"Does this color look good?" Evelyn felt ashamed to ask as she held up some fabric and directed the questions at the twins.

Both honey colored eyes peered over in her direction and sighed.

"No." It was all together and rude.

"It's not dark enough, and not even anywhere close to the color schematics we chose." Hikaru replied.

"I'm so useless!" Evelyn cried out, frustrated.

"Then go see if Mori and Honey could use any help with the other stuff."

"Fine."

Evelyn dropped the fabric she held in her hands back into the box she had found and wandered away from the twins, who were busy working for once. She was amazed at how quickly the Host Club was able to conduct a full ball within the little time. She hummed happily to herself, and began creating ways to sincerely thank them when she wandered outside to face the mass of tents. Sighing to herself, she wandered throughout the mess.

It had been a week since she notified the army and still, no word. A familiar figure was instantly at Evelyn's side.

"Hello Mjomba."

"Hello Evelyn. Can we talk?"

"Sure. Go for it."

She heard him let out a soft sigh and knew that it was something worse than just a 'talk'.

"My office?" She asked.

"Yeah."

She ignored the curious glances she received from some of her coworkers as she led Mjomba to her office/room. She prayed that Haruhi was not in there, just in case they broke into an argument. That would cause some issues, not like she already had so many to deal with. When she made sure that the door was shut, she offered Mjomba a seat, but he ignored the gesture.

"You're mad." She stated as calm as she could while she sat down in her chair and watched the grown man carefully.

"Yes, I am mad."

"Why?"

His hands were balled up by his side as he took a deep breath in.

"I do not find you fit to run this conservation. You are letting absolute strangers take over matters that are so important."

"They offered their help. I took them up on it. Besides, they have experience doing these sorts of things."

"That's not the only thing I find wrong. The refugees."

"I checked in at the headquarters. We're still waiting on a rep to come out."

"They need to go."

Her eyes instantly narrowed as he continued on.

"They are calling you the "Joy of our people"."

"And that's bad how?"

"They're expecting too much from you. You cannot possibly save them all. Not only that, but our supplies are more demanding than ever. We've never gone through so much food."

She crossed her arms and gave him her best glare, which was nothing compared to Kyoya's.

"They're not leaving."

"They have to go."

"No."

Mjomba glared back at her and slammed his hands on her desk. She jumped from the loud noise and the action; never has he been so violent.

"You are not listening to me. They. Have. To. Go. Today. Now."

Evelyn, confused stood up to face the man.

"And you are not listening to me either. They are not going. They have nowhere to go, nowhere to call home. They came to me because they _knew _I would listen. We have to wait for the army to come and get them."

"The army has left them here. They will not come and collect these people."

"You don't know that."

"They need to go!"

She wanted to scoff, to roll her eyes and mock him. Instead, she took a step closer to him and met him eyelevel.

"They are not going. If you don't like the way I run this place, then get the hell outta here."

There was a soft knock on the door and the two instantly looked at it. Realizing that they were still in her office and trying to calm down, Evelyn took a step away.

"Come in."

Haruhi poked her head in and looked surprised.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you guys were meeting. I can come back later."

"No, it's fine. We were just finished." Mjomba spoke and rushed to the door. Haruhi was quick to get out of his way and watch Evelyn carefully.

The door slammed shut and caused Evelyn to flinch a little. Her nerves were shaken and she felt like she was going to be sick. She never fought with Mjomba, but this time something was wrong. She felt her legs grow like jelly and was quick to plop back down into her chair.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. What's on your mind?"

Haruhi watched her carefully, her frown still not leaving.

"Kyoya said that there's a letter for you waiting in the main office."

"Okay, let's go to it then!"

The entire Host Club sat around the cafeteria table, observing each other and absorbing the weird silence. Tamaki was twiddling his fingers around, Kyoya was captured by his iTouch, the twins were sighing to themselves and trying to think of different designs and color schemes, Honey was captivated with Usa-chan and Mori only watched, and finally Haruhi was lost in thought.

"You know," Kaoru decided to break the silence. "We've never been done so early before."

"Yeah," his twin agreed. "It feels like we're missing something."

"It's Eve-chan who we're missing." Honey spoke up happily. "She has been a little bit out of it today."

'_Hmm… it must have been something to do with her fight with Mjomba.'_

All eyes instantly went to Haruhi and suddenly she was on the spot.

"What did you say?" Tamaki asked.

"Oh, I didn't mean to say it out loud. I just was thinking."

"What happened?" Mori asked.

"Well, when I came to get her for the letter, I could hear them arguing. He was mad about something."

"How mad?" Honey asked.

"Mad enough to make her ignore the rest of us." Tamaki answered as he let out a long groan. "We need to do something Mommy."

"We will. She'll be coming here in a minute. We're having a class today in mannerisms."

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked suspiciously.

"Evelyn has no lessons in table or party manners. We're going to teach her so she'll make a great impression on her sponsors."

"Hello everyone!" She greeted them with much more cheer than she had earlier.

"EVELYN!" Tamaki shot out of his chair and was instantly hugging the unprepared girl. "You seem so happy right now!"

She giggled as Tamaki swung her around in circles, holding the girl tightly in his embrace.

"What are you doing?"

Tamaki stopped and studied her closely and took a step back as he analyzed her.

"What cheered you up so much?"

The grin grew even more as she held up a letter in her hand.

"My parents are coming back soon. They'll be back in Africa tomorrow night."

"Will you be picking them up?" Haruhi asked.

"No, Mjomba is going to get them. He's heading into town right now and staying there for the night." Her smile faltered a little bit, but she quickly picked it back up.

"I'm just glad they're coming back, it also probably means good news."

"That's really good news Eve-chan!" Honey smiled at her happily before he hugged her around the knees.

"But now, we're going to need to work on a special project." The twins interrupted.

"Oh really? Well, I can help if you need me too, I just need to go back to the Lion's Den and check in over there really quick."

"I'm sure Mori and Honey can handle it. We need you right now."

Evelyn looked up at Kyoya whose glasses glinted a little bit maliciously.

"Oh. Is it something bad?"

The twins stood up and retrieved her from Tamaki's grasp. With hands around her shoulders, they guided her to the table and sat her down. Looking a little lost, Evelyn turned to Haruhi for help, who was only hauled to sit next to Evelyn. A twin took perch on either side of the girls as Tamaki sat down in front of them. An eyebrow was raised as Evelyn studied the setting.

"What's happening?"

"Etiquette lessons. In order to impress your sponsors, you must show the proper party manners." Tamaki explained. "Kyoya, where's our place settings?"

"Here they are."

There was a box full of old dishes that were chipped or slightly cracked. When Tamaki peered inside, his face darkened.

"We can't properly practice with these!" He exclaimed, disgusted.

"It's all we have until my shipment arrives."

Evelyn and Haruhi shared a relieved look. Surely they wouldn't practice with broken dishes.

"Okay, table setting is put to the side. Ladies, whenever you wish to you the restroom, you address it as the washroom."

"And then the guys will stand and let the ladies leave. I know table manners." Evelyn sighed. "Teach me something new Tamaki."

Tamaki stopped and frowned slightly but it was quickly replaced with a warm smile.

"Then I'm going to assume you know how to dance as well."

Evelyn shook her head.

"I do not. I'm not that graceful."

"Have you even tried?" Haruhi asked. "It's really not that hard."

"I'm taking it you had to learn too."

Haruhi nodded happily.

"Though, I am still confused as to why I was included on these lessons. I already had them when I joined the Host Club."

"Ah, that would make sense then." Evelyn nodded her head. "So, how do you work in the Host Club? Do you make the tea and crumpets?"

Haruhi shook her head, all the lessons were completely lost between the two girls as they chatted happily.

"Guys, we really need to be working on our dancing." Tamaki went completely unnoticed as the two continued their conversation.

Out of desperation, Tamaki turned to Kyoya.

"Mommy," he whined. "They're not listening to me!"

"So they're not that really interested then. Evelyn's got a lot on her mind and Haruhi is the nearest girl to talk to. Let them be."

"O-okay." He sounded dejected as he took a seat next to Kyoya. "Class dismissed."

"Oh! I really need to go the Lion's Den. I'll be back soon." Evelyn sat up quickly and snapped out of the conversation. "Haruhi, would you like to come with me?"

"Sure!" The burnette stood up with Evelyn and the two girls walked out, waving at the boys.

"Be good and work hard while we're gone!"

When they were sure that the girls were gone, Mori turned to Kyoya, who understood the unasked question.

"I looked up Mjomba, but nothing came up." He spoke to the tall boy quietly. "Although that doesn't mean my search is at an end."

A/N: Hello every silent reader. :P I know you're there because of the view counts I keep finding on my account. I must say I'm happy with the results, and I shall trudge through this without a lack of faith. But I don't know if it's bad or not because no one will tell me so I'm taking the silence as a good sign. Maybe it's just because you're all in shock or something. I'd like to pretend anyways. Maybe it was because I warned you it might be long. However, I'm still going to follow through with this story and I will be happy to make any corrections. I take good criticism and I need it too.

Oh and thank you: round and round we go for reviewing! It makes me happy. I'm sending you virtual cookies. The good kind anyways.

Love,

Jazzy


	11. Home

"I can't believe that Evelyn didn't want us going with her this morning!" Tamaki cried as he threw himself on the table and wailed.

"It would be the first time she gets to see her parents together." Haruhi intervened. "I thought it would be best that she got to meet with them without us."

"But we were left here, against our will!" Tamaki cried again.

"If you have nothing better to do, then update you journal." Kyoya looked up to the group. "Because I'm sure none of you have been keeping up with it at all. Well, besides Mori anyways."

"Yeah, who's gonna read them all?" The twins asked together.

"They're going in your portfolio. That way, when other companies want to sign on with your company, they will at least be able to see what kind of other connections they have."

Mori glanced down at his watch and sighed for the second time in the last minute. Large brown eyes peered up at the tall guy, questioning.

"What's wrong Mori-chan?" Honey asked.

"Nothing." He replied as he stood.

They had been working on the last bits of the gala, making sure everything was in order. Now all that was left was clothing for them, and making sure that Evelyn was ready to be presented with her family.

"I'm going to check on the lions." He announced to the room.

"Suit yourself." Kyoya didn't even bother looking up from his iPad as he continued to finalize everything. "We just need to make sure everything is done by the time Evelyn and her parents get here."

Mori nodded and continued on his way to the rest of the compound. He knew he would find Robin somewhere in all that mess. Sure enough, he found her in a pen, taking pictures of turtles and tortoises while chatting happily to them. Hannah ignored the woman as she fed them, making sure each got their right amount.

"Takashi, this is a surprise." Robin spoke without glancing over her shoulder to him.

Mori was stunned, in the least that she had even picked up his presence before he could say anything. Hannah looked up, however and grinned.

"Come in, if you dare. These are monstrous beasts that'll eat your face off." She warned him.

She earned a shy smile from Mori as he crouched down next to Robin to study the small turtle that suddenly took interest in her. Smiling, Robin put her camera away and offered the small turtle a finger to investigate.

"Will you drive me to the Lions Den?" He asked after a moment of silence.

Robin didn't look away as she slowly touched the turtle's small heard.

"I guess I can. Have you guys already finished the preparations for the gala already?"

"Mostly. I'm not needed there."

"Sure. It'll be a while before Evelyn and Mjomba get back anyways." The woman stood up and stretched her legs out. "Thanks for being my model Hannah; I'm sure this will look good when it gets to the magazine."

Hannah's face instantly turned red as she looked away from Robin.

"You didn't say anything about a magazine! You said it was a newsletter!"

Robin shrugged.

"Magazine, newsletter, same difference. These pictures are going to National Geographic. Hopefully it will be enough to promote our doings here and we'll get some more supporters."

Hannah ignored the older woman now, and was focused on feeding the smaller animals.

"Okay, we're off! Let's see what kind of trouble we can get into at the den."

Evelyn fidgeted where she was standing, but watched diligently for the plane that should be arriving soon. However, she had more than one reason to fidget. One; her parents were returning, together, and it would be the first time in a month or two that she would see them. Two; she was impatient to see what kind of progress the Host Club made while she was gone and three; there was still an awkward air about Mjomba and herself that she couldn't quiet pin, but she felt that it was still connected with yesterday's fight.

"The plane is late." She huffed out as she checked her phone for the hundredth time in the last five minutes.

"You know how planes usually are Bititi." Mjomba sighed as he crossed his arms and leaned against the jeep. "However, it is going a lot better than I thought. I was certain those volunteers were going to come with us."

Evelyn's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she remembered that morning's event. They almost made it clear of the conservation until Tamaki and the twins caused a scene by nearly jumping in the car with her and Mjomba.

"There we are."

Mjomba's deep voice brought her out of thinking and her attention instantly went to the sky. Sure enough, the small plane was already descending towards the landing strip. Excitement gripped her chest, and she almost ran out to the plane. However, she waited next to Mjomba.

"_I bet you're glad dad's back. Maybe he can fix what I've messed up." _She thought bitterly as his words replayed in her head.

As soon as the plane touched down and the assistants were out to collect the plane and its passengers, Evelyn made for her parents.

Her mother stepped into the cabin first and took a deep breath in. Hazel orbs tried to take in everything at once, but she was more than happy to discover that everything was the way she had left it. The tall woman's hair was falling around her shoulders, and with every turn she made, the beads in her hair clicked together. Corrin Richards almost giggled in pure joy, she was happy to be home.

"Evelyn, I can't even begin to tell you how much we appreciate you taking care of everything while we were gone." Corrin began as she went straight to her room.

Her father, Kevin, stepped in behind his wife with the luggage trailing behind him. He grunted with the heavy weight, and was finally relieved to drop it on the floor. His brown eyes searched the room as well and was happy to return. Stretching his tanned arms he grabbed some bags and dropped them off in the bedroom.

"How was your trip?" Evelyn asked as she plopped down on a sofa and watched her parents carefully.

"Eventful." Kevin answered. "We got a lot done."

"We got a lot more sponsors too that'll be attending the gala and they are interested in seeing the conservation when it is fully open to the public." Corrin chatted excitedly as she began to rummage through her bags. "How was my replacement?"

"The vet did okay. Nothing died while you were gone and nothing got serious. I think he's just glad that you're back so he can leave."

"Well that's good. I'm ready to get back to working with the animals again. You know, I prefer animal patients over the humans. They don't complain much."

"However," Kevin stopped as he sat down in the recliner across from Evelyn. She quickly noted the change in his attitude and knew where the conversation was going. "I heard we've been slightly delayed."

"Mjomba?" Evelyn asked.

A nod was the response she received and knew that it probably wasn't good. "We've been having a hard time getting along recently."

Corrin made her way into the living room and sat down next to Evelyn on the sofa.

"Well, what we really wanted to tell you was this; we're proud you fought to keep those refugees here."

She breathed out in relief and leaned into her mother's embrace.

"I don't like the way I had to do it though." She spoke gently. "I hate fighting Mjomba. It made me feel like I started it."

Her parents exchanged looks.

"You and Mjomba fought?" Her dad asked.

Shrugging, Evelyn closed her eyes and sighed.

"It was nothing I couldn't handle."

"What was said?"

Evelyn sat up and pulled her legs up close to her chest.

"Nothing bad. We just had an argument about the people we're keeping here. He doesn't like the fact that they had been here longer than normal. I notified the military, but I've not heard back from them."

"We'll take care of it later." Kevin decided as he leaned back into the recliner. "But first, what is the news on the gala?"

"Good! Do you want to see the preparations we've made?"

"We?"

"Yeah. Remember that group of high school students that came at the beginning of summer? They specialize in organizing events like this. They helped a lot."

There was a knocking on the door that interrupted Evelyn before she could continue on the story.

"I'll get it." The teen volunteered as she got up off the sofa. She was almost at the door when it opened before she could grab it. To her surprise, Mori and Robin were standing there.

"Hey guys." Evelyn greeted them.

"We need you at the Lion's Den. Something's happened." Even though that was probably the most that Evelyn heard from Mori, it didn't quiet register to her.

Instantly her mind went to all negative thoughts, which she could only assume that was what happened from the grave looks she was getting.

"I'm on my way. Mori come with me."

And like that, she rushed off to the nearest vehicle she could get her hands on.

"Put some pressure here." Corrin demanded.

Evelyn followed her mother's instructions and immediately put her hands over the gushing wound. She didn't grimace or flinch as she felt the blood trickling through her fingers, but instead applied more pressure to stop the oozing blood.

The lion on the steel table was wheezing and groaning, but fully knocked out. His large mane was matted with blood and his breath was getting shallow.

"Takashi, please get some towels from the storage and iodine." Corrin immediately instructed as she made sure her gloves were on.

"What are we looking at here?" Kevin asked as he stood by, watching the operation that was about to take place.

"A failed hunting attempt dear. Whoever shot this lion didn't know what they were doing, thought they wouldn't catch it when it ran off, or just didn't bother looking."

"Or the hunter was killed by the lion." Evelyn spoke gently, but they all knew it was another option. "Is it possible to save it?"

Corrin remained quiet while she studied the tools set out before her and picked the right one out. Mori returned quickly with a stack of hand towels and held them out to Corrin.

"Evelyn, I need you to remove your hand when I tell you. After I grab the bullet, I want you to reapply the pressure, but this time with a towel. Mori, you'll help her, okay?"

"Yeah."

Corrin took a deep breath in and let out a long sigh.

"Okay, Evelyn, go."

Evelyn was quick to remove her hands from the wound. At the same time she moved her hands, her mother moved in with the tweezers and dug in the lion's side for the bullet. She found it in no time and retreated while Mori shoved a towel over the wound and Evelyn placed her hands back on the lion.

"Good job kids. Keep your hands there until I'm ready to stich the beast back up."

The two teens worked with Corrin efficiently, following her directions while she worked on treating the wound, and applying stitches.

"Where did you guys find him at?" She asked Mori as they stepped back and let Corrin finish with the help of her husband.

"On the way up here. He was lying in the road like that. Robin made a call and someone came to pick him up while we went to get you."

Sighing, Evelyn looked down at her hands, and felt her stomach lurch when she realized what was still staining them.

"Here."

Mori grabbed her wrists and lead her out of the room. Confused as to where she was going, she just let him lead her down the hallway, away from the operating room. It wasn't long before Mori found the girl's bathroom and led her into the sink. He turned on warm water and stuck her hands under the faucet.

"Right. Thanks."

He nodded his head and leaned against the sink, waiting on her to finish washing her hands.

"You were pretty calm Takashi."

"Thanks. You too."

She smiled faintly and nodded her head.

"I have to be. If I panicked, the situation would have turned out differently and that lion probably wouldn't have made it."

"You care a lot about the animals here."

"They care when you care. I know they're just animals, but they can definitely tell when someone loves them. I would die for my lions more than anything."

"They would die for you too."

Evelyn smiled at the compliment.

"Well, we will never test their loyalty. They're safe here, and that one will be treated just the same as the rest. I will begin working with him as soon as he makes a full recovery. Let's get out of the bathroom though. Especially since it's the ladies restroom too."

The realization dawned on Mori and he was a little bit quicker to leave than Evelyn.

"We have something else to worry about too." She muttered angrily. "There's someone who dares to hunt on our land."

"You don't think it was an accident." Mori asked. She shook her head fervently. The two of them came to the same conclusion. "I don't either."

A/N: I really hope Mori isn't too OOC, but this is a fun challenge to write him in. Anyways, I am going to try to update weekly, every Friday anyways. College is keeping me busy enough, but I have a lot of free time now! Who would have thought? It's like whoever created the schedule didn't think that all the required classes weren't far apart, but now, I have four hours between some of my classes. I get homework done fast! :D Gotta love college. Anyways, done with my talking, I'm off to Imaginative Writing 1! Thanks to my lovely reviewers: anonymous, ScreenSaver2, and Rose Thourn! I really appreciate your feedback! Well, until next time!

Love,

Moi!


	12. New Game

"_Evelyn."_

That voice. It was familiar? But where had she heard it from before.

"_Eve-chan." _

Something under Evelyn grumbled, but refused to move. Snuggling in closer to the softness, Evelyn wrapped her hands around the pillow and got closer to it, if it was possible.

"Evelyn, you should really get up."

The teen slowly opened her eyes and stared at her pillow. Smiling to herself, she brushed the brown and gold fur down and scratched between the ears.

"Thanks Simba." She muttered before she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Rubbing her eyes, she looked towards the fence line and found Mori and Honey standing there. "What's going on guys? Why are you all the way out here?"

"We wanted to tell you the good news first!" Honey was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. His brown eyes were wide and full of laughter.

"Okay, spill it then."

"Your parents met with us about the gala." Mori spoke first.

"And that means the gala is a-ok to go! They approved of all the ideas and invited us to come along as well."

"That's always good to hear." Evelyn agreed and turned back to her lion to sleep some more. Instead, the beast stood on his legs and left her to the volunteers. 'Traitor.'

"So we have scheduled another trip into town because none of us have the proper clothes for the gala."

"It's a good thing I live here then, isn't it?"

"But that's the other part of the good news!"

Evelyn's eyes flickered towards the owner of the voice and found the rest of the Host Club, lounging about on the jeep. Her aunt waved from the driver side happily.

"I get it." She spoke slowly as she rose to her feet and dusted her pants off. "I am to be your escort, aren't I?"

"More or less." Hikaru answered.

"Yeah, your parents wanted us to make sure that you had something suitable for the gala before we went to town."

"So you want a tour of my wardrobe?"

She stood at the gate, and crossed her arms, refusing to step outside of the pen when she learned of their escapades.

"No, we've already been through it." The twins answered together.

"I'm not buying a new dress. I have a good one."

"You do." Kyoya agreed.

"But?"

"Shoes."

"You know, they're making a really big deal out of Haruhi." Evelyn muttered as she sat down next to Mori on one of the many couches in the dress store. Mori said nothing as the girl made herself comfortable and watched the scene before her.

Tamaki and the twins were fussing over which dress Haruhi should try on, which one matched the theme the best and what she should wear with them. The poor girl seemed overwhelmed as she threw dresses back at them, getting onto them for causing so much fuss.

Sighing, Evelyn stood up and cleared her throat.

"If you guys don't have anything better to do, then I suggest you go to the men's store and get your tuxedos. Haruhi can't pick what she wants over you bubbling idiots."

The group grew quiet as they studied Evelyn and then shared looks between each other.

"But we won't get to see what Haru-chan will wear to the gala!" Honey cried.

"Then it'll be a surprise. Think of it as one of your games."

It was the word 'game' that got everyone's sudden attention. A challenge? Oh they liked challenges. Confident, Evelyn continued.

"The only one who gets to know what Haruhi will wear is me. Whoever can best match her dress will get a prize."

"Who's going to be the judge?"

"I will be." Evelyn affirmed. "Rules: you can't pester Haruhi into telling her what her dress is. You cannot peek at the dress before the night and you can't bribe anyone into doing your dirty work. All of this must be on instinct."

"Who's buying Haruhi's dress?" Kyoya asked and smirked.

Crossing her arms, Evelyn challenged the smirk.

"You know that I'm not broke. Besides," Evelyn stepped back and slung an arm around Haruhi's shoulder and pulled the unsuspecting girl closer in. "It'll be my thank-you gift to her."

"Will she be really okay with you?" One twin asked.

"We've seen your room and your choice of clothes." The two of them used Haruhi to lean against her and watched Evelyn closely.

"Go away. Let us girls shop. We will meet back at the jeep soon."

"Are you sure this is really okay?" Haruhi asked as Evelyn handed the clerk her debit card.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"You didn't sleep last night. You weren't even there."

"No." Evelyn remained silent as she finished taking care of the payment, but she knew Haruhi had the right to know. "I stayed in the clinic last night. I'm sure Takashi told you guys what happened."

"So I can only imagine you kept getting up then?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"I didn't sleep. But it is okay, I've had those kinds of nights before."

"You're really dedicated to the lions, aren't you?"

"You could say that. I understand them more than I understand people."

The two left the store and started walking down the street to find the jeep to drop the dress off.

"How are you able to do that?"

Evelyn shrugged.

"It just comes to me naturally. When I was little, and we still lived in England, my family lived on a small farm. One night I snuck out into the horse pasture and they found me the next morning sleeping next to a stallion they couldn't handle."

"What did they do?"

"Left me until I woke up. The stallion wouldn't let them near me. After that, I've just always been good with animals. Dad knew he wanted to do something good for the world and decided to start the Conservation to help save Africa's animals. We moved here when I was fourteen. But by then, my brother was already in Japan, working at the zoo there."

"what about school?"

"Oh." Evelyn's face fell a little bit. "I dropped as soon as I could. The sooner I dropped, the sooner I could work with the lions."

"But what's so special about the lions that made you want to work directly with them?"

Evelyn shrugged again as they rounded the corner to find the jeep. They had beaten the guys back.

"They took me in instantly and protected me. I've always felt at home with them."

"One more question." Evelyn fumbled with the car keys as she listened to Haruhi. "How are we hiding this from the boys?"

"Trash bag."

As if to prove her point, Evelyn found a wadded up black trash bag hiding in the glove compartment. She held it up and offered to put it on over the dress on the hanger.

"And so you will sit in the front with it and make them sit in the back."

"I can't even believe that you trust them to sit in the back without any seat belts."

"I trust them that they value their life and won't do anything stupid to fall."

"We have arrived!"

The girls turned towards Tamaki who was posed with his hands held way out, as if he was expecting a hug or something. Sighing Haruhi turned towards Evelyn.

"We need to take them with us to shop for shoes." Evelyn spoke soft enough for Haruhi to hear her. "Otherwise, they'll peek."

Haruhi nodded her head in agreement and turned to face the boys.

"I need to go to the military base again." Evelyn said, instantly remembering that there were still refugees back on the Conservation. "Why don't you guys shop around a little more while you wait on me? That way, you can be sure you have everything you need and won't be bored."

"Are you sure you don't want any of us to go with you?" Honey asked, concerned.

Evelyn nodded and smiled.

"I'll be fine. It's nothing I can't handle."

She turned on her heels and headed the opposite direction of the group towards the office, hoping she wouldn't get angry with them. It wasn't long before she felt a familiar presence join her.

"You two don't want to go shopping?"

She casted Honey and Mori a sideways glance. The small boy was sitting on the shoulders of his cousin and smiled happily at Evelyn.

"Don't worry Eve-chan. We go shopping all the time and we wanted to go with you."

"Thanks."

"What do you mean it's not recorded? I was here two weeks ago!"

Evelyn's hard glare almost reminded Mori of Kyoya when he got mad. It was icy and cold. He could tell the girl was trying her best to not punch the guy behind the desk. It was not the same one from last time, Mori could remember the boy's face well. The poor guy sitting behind the desk was close to Mori's age.

"Well, who did you report it to?"

Evelyn's hands gripped the edge of the counter and her knuckles grew white.

"It was a Brandon Silverton."

The man stopped and stood up.

"I think you and your friends need to see the Captain."

Evelyn's hands fell from the counter top and she looked at Mori confused. Honey's face fell as he clambered off his tall cousin and looked to the computer guy.

"What's wrong?"

"Brandon went missing two weeks ago."

A/N: Sorry that this was such a slow chapter! I promise things will pick up soon! Anyways, thank you for all of the reviews and support you guys have been sending me! Happy Valentine's Day to all! I hope yours is not as snowy as mine is. Enjoy!

Love,

Jazzy


	13. Some Trouble

Evelyn found the incense in Fatima's tent very suffocating, or maybe she was just worried about breaking the news to the leaders of the clan; it would be another week before they got moved to a safer district.

Fatima's all-knowing gaze studied the young girl in front of her through the smoke.

"I know what it is that's on your mind Evelyn."

Evelyn bowed her head and broke the gaze immediately. Her eyes squeezed shut tightly and her hands curled into fists tight enough for her fingernails to almost break skin.

"I am sorry Fatima. I was not able to help you soon. I know these living conditions are not the best."

"It is not your fault."

"I have failed your tribe in a time of need."

"_Ayouluwa_, you have done enough for us." A deep baritone voice spoke from the flap of the tent. Fatima's eyes flashed over to the person who entered and a small smile played on her dark face. Evelyn quickly turned to look over her shoulder and was quick to stand on her feet. The tall man wore the colors of the tribe proudly around his neck. The trinkets that hung around his neck and the staff that he held in his dark hands told Evelyn one thing; this was the chief of the tribe and Fatima's brother. He was a young man

"Ah, you must be Haki. It is an honor to finally meet you. I am truly sorry for everything that has happened." (*Haki translates to Justice*)

"You do not need to apologize, Ayouluwa. You have done enough for our tribe, and we should not rely on others so much."

"You have a reason to." She argued back. "You have nowhere to go and you need help to return to your feet. I went back to the military today and they said they would have room for you one more week. I am asking you to stay until they come and get you."

The brother and sister shared a look, one that Evelyn could not read into.

"We do not need to overstay our welcome." Fatima sighed. "We can leave if you wish."

"I'm not asking you to leave." Evelyn sighed. "I just wanted you to know that something is being done right now. The military is going to reimburse us and send some more supplies to help care for you."

"Thank you, Ayouluwa, for everything you have done for us."

"How did they take it?" Evelyn's mom piped up as soon as Evelyn entered the office. The tired girl sighed and plopped down on the couch next to Mori. It was only the four of them in the small room. Once the office was organized, Kyoya was off working on something else, but Evelyn couldn't remember what he had said he was doing.

"They were not angry, surprisingly. They just kept apologizing for prolonging their stay of all things. They offered to leave, but I refused their offer. Told them we were still getting supplies and support for them." Closing her eyes, she rubbed her face and tried to think of what she wanted to do next. "Where are we at with the gala?" She asked to no one in particular.

"Everything is ready to go, and with a few days left to relax."

"Good." With a sudden burst of energy, she jumped to her feet. "I'm going to see the-"

"Lions, we know." Her father spoke from the computer. "I am going to go through and evaluate each station. Take Takashi and do whatever it is that you all do with the lions." He waved her off.

"We're going to see if that lioness is ready to meet the rest of the pride." She explained to Mori while he stood up. "I really don't know where you are able to help, but maybe she'll take a shine to you and calm down."

Corrin peeked up from the report she had been reading and watched Evelyn with careful eyes.

"You need to be careful."

"I am careful. Come on Mori; let's see what kind of trouble we can get into today."

Mr. and Mrs. Richards watched their daughter leave with the stoic teen. Worry crossed Corrin's face as she turned to face her husband.

"One of these days, she's going to get into trouble with that attitude."

Kevin sighed as he shut the computer down and picked up a clipboard.

"Well, you always said we did have a backup plan if she got into too much trouble here. Lee would be ecstatic if she decided to live with him."

"You know she won't. She loves being here too much." Corrin made a face as she went back to her report. "Though what she did tell us about that young man going missing, that does have me worried. The last thing we want to have happen is getting involved with those wretched rebels. Good thing we came back when we did. Have you read this report?" She held up her hand with the folder in it.

"I'll read it later. Right now, I'm going to go to the nursery and check on the babes. Wanna come?"

Corrin jumped to her feet and dropped the report on the chair she was lounging in.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I'm not stalking your daughter." He warned as he tossed a glance over his shoulder at the wife.

"I know, I know. I just can't help but be curious."

"That's going to bite you in the butt one day. Come on."

"Ah shit!" Evelyn's eyes immediately locked onto the lioness's dull yellow eyes and took a step back towards the door.

The lioness was pissed, and that was an understatement. She growled low when Evelyn had walked into the room, but immediately ignored her as she pressed closer, talking gently. It was only when Evelyn was actually closer that the lioness jumped to her feet and took a swipe at the teen, who was quick to scramble out of the angry cat's way. She tripped on her own feet as she backed away and dropped to the ground quickly. Her mind began to race as she thought back to all of her past experiences with the lions and knew she'd have to try a different approach to the old hunter, if she got a chance. The lioness was quick on her feet as she approached the girl. Evelyn didn't move, afraid that if she did move, it'll cause the lioness to chase and kill. It was then, that Evelyn realized it didn't matter what she did, the lioness would kill her.

A dark shape jumped in front of her quicker than any of the females could register. Evelyn gasped as a hand was thrown out to protect her from the lioness, who scurried to a stop. With a flick of her tail, the lioness studied the onyx colored orbs carefully before she retreated to the other side of the room and laid down, ignoring the teens. Initial shock rushed through Evelyn's body before she could fully register what just happened.

"Are you okay?"

Mori's rumbling voice brought Evelyn out of her stupor and shock. Eyes wide, she looked up to meet his eyes. He didn't wait for her to accept his offering hand and lifted her to her feet. Her eyes immediately went back to the grumpy lioness and her stomach lurched. Her hand instantly covered her face as she took a shakey step back. Mori didn't miss the cut on her hand. He was quick to grab it, but Evelyn pulled it away, finally coming to her senses.

"I'll be okay. Thanks."

She found the door handle behind her and slipped out of the room without another word.

A/N: So, let's blame all the stupid minecraft world, shall we? Lol. My boyfriend bought me an account. Best/worst idea ever! I hope you all enjoyed this! I definitely liked hearing from some of my old reviewers, and for that I thank you. I'll try to not take a month to update again. I promise!

Love,

Jazzy


	14. Uncle Clark

"What on earth is she doing?" The question came from a certain blonde headed King as the Host Club watched Evelyn in the Lion pen. Mori wore a displeased frown on his face as he answered.

"'Trying a different tactic'."

"A different tactic?" Hikaru echoed. "Is that what they call it these days?"

"Yeah," his twin chimed in. "It looks like she's in a painful position. I don't know how she could be crouched for so long."

"It looks like she's having a staring contest with it." Haruhi commented dryly.

"That's what it is." Honey commented as he climbed up on Mori's shoulders to get a better look from the observatory deck.

Evelyn had requested that the wild lioness be introduced to the pride, in case it would calm her down. Making sure to leave the lioness alone for a few days, Evelyn gave her time to adjust to the new setting and the other lions. The other lions were quick to accept her into the pride, but Nala was the most begrudging of them all. Mori had witnessed her fury as the two lioness shared claws and angry glares, but the loner was the first to back down.

"Has Eve-chan named her already?"

"Hoshi." Haruhi answered them all. "She told me earlier this morning.

"Men!" Tamaki butted in and addressed the group. "If we don't get Evelyn out of there now, we'll never see her for the gala!"

"I'm certainly not going in there." Kyoya was the first to speak.

"Yeah Boss." Hikaru spoke up. "If we learned anything at this place, it's to not get in the way of Evelyn and her projects."

"Or the lions."

A cuss word brought the Host Club back to the looking into the pen. Evelyn was currently on her butt, once again, but this time, Nala stood between Hoshi and Evelyn. Both of the lionesses had their ears pinned back and the growling contest began.

A soft sigh escaped Mori's lips as he shook his head when Evelyn stood back up and turned her attention to Nala. The teen was quickly scolding both of the proud females with a lecture that was not understood. But one thing was clear, Nala was making sure Hoshi knew who to not mess with. After finishing her lecture, Evelyn turned on her heels and walked away from the pair, slightly angry but her face was a bit calmer than normal. The Host Club decided it was best to approach her then.

Mori climbed down the steps of the deck first and met Evelyn as she exited the pen.

"I don't know if Hoshi will attack me anymore, but Nala certainly had words with her."

"That was dangerous!" Tamaki exclaimed as he jumped to hug Evelyn into a tight embrace. "You could have been eaten!"

"You're smothering her Dono!" The twins cried as they jumped to Evelyn's aid. "You're gonna kill her!"

"Yes, we can't have her dying of all nights tonight." Kyoya reminded them all. "She needs to make her presentation at the gala tonight."

Evelyn made a face as she stepped out of Tamaki's reaching distance and stood behind Haruhi.

"Well, I guess that means we need to head back and get ready. It'll start in a few hours, and my parents won't be happy that I was working today."

Kaoru draped an arm around Haruhi and pulled her out of Evelyn's way.

"You ladies need to be getting ready already. Hair and makeup will take such a long time!"

Evelyn made a face and pulled Haruhi out of the evil twin's grasp.

"It shouldn't take that long, should it?"

"Well, not only that, but the army showed up today." Kyoya's news startled Evelyn. "Oh, and your parents left to pick up your Uncle Clark."

Evelyn's face fell as the name left Kyoya's lips.

"Thank you for informing me." She said. "Is there any chance Fatima and Haki are still around or have they already left?"

"Still around the last time I checked." Honey answered as he climbed back on top of Mori's shoulders. Usa-chan sat on Mori's head. The image of the pink bunny ruined the moment, but Evelyn kept thinking about everything that happened.

"That's a lot. Is Mjomba still around, or did he go with my parents?"

"He went in town early." Haruhi answered. "He said something about making sure the gala was fully ready for tomorrow. I think your parents said he was staying the night at the hotel even."

Evelyn nodded.

"Good. I'm going to go see Fatima and her brother before they leave. Are you guys planning on coming with me, or you going to stick around here?"

"We're going back!" The twins and Tamaki cried out. "Don't leave us here to be eaten!"

The girl raised an amused eyebrow and shook her head at the three of them.

"You guys are crazy. Come on Haruhi, we should just leave them."

Haruhi glanced over to the hysterical trio and shrugged.

"Sure, let's go."

"Please don't leave us!"

"I'm not."

But their words reminded Evelyn of the dates. After the gala, the Host Club would return to Japan, and back to their schools. The thought of her newly found friends leaving set her heart a little bit heavy. She would miss them; that much was real.

Corrin looked over to her husband nervously from the back seat and then to the back of the head of her brother in law. A frown sat on the woman's face as she glared holes into the back of Clark Richard's head, wishing he didn't feel like he had to come. She had the upmost confidence in her husband and Evelyn to keep everything in order. Hell, he wasn't even going to come until he heard that sons of some of the most prestigious families from Japan were at their 'lowly' conservation.

"Corrin, how is your job holding out?"

The woman looked up into the rearview mirror and met the hard brown eyes of her brother in law. She managed to perfect a smile and answered him.

"Fine. The National Geographic loves hearing about my exploits in Africa. They just dig in deeper when I share my experiences and near encounters with the rebellion and lost tribes that we somehow manage to lose over the years."

She sat back in her seat with a satisfied smirk and found herself looking out the window.

"I don't know why you even bother with such meaningless work. You either brother. Both of you could be safely in England, working secure jobs." He remarked haughtily.

"History is important Clark." Corrin was quick to scold him. "You learn the past so you won't repeat the same mistakes."

She got a bemused look from her husband, but he was quick to replace it.

"Besides, my family loves it out here. Especially Evelyn. She has a knack of running the place on her own."

"Ah! My niece. And how is she? Still in school I hope."

Corrin made a face again at the back of his head, but the silence answered the question.

"She chose to drop out." Kevin answered the question.

"What? She must immediately return to school!"

"She wanted the year off to help the conservation. We let her make the decision. She's only eighteen."

"Will she go to college then?"

"Only when she's ready." Corrin answered. "Now just isn't the right time. She needs to finish high school first anyways."

"There's still time to enroll her." Clark offered. "There are many schools that would open their doors for a Richards."

"As we've said before." Corrin cut him off. "It's her decision. Not ours."

A/N: Yay! Another chapter! And it didn't take me all month or two to get it up! Spring break is next week, and that's when I'll work best. So, expect a chapter next week. It will also be the chapter that gets to the more dramatic part soon anyways. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Love,

Jazzy


	15. Gala

"Thank you all for coming tonight."

Evelyn's voice projected across the ball room with gentle ease. It startled her a second, to hear her own voice so loud, but the mummer was instantly hushed. She could catch glimpse of jewelry flashing in the lights, but with the light projected on her, she couldn't see the faces of her crowd. Anxiety gripped her heart, but she forced a smile to them. It was going to be okay. She had to make her parents proud, to keep her uncle quiet and prove him wrong- that she knew what she was doing.

To keep her nerves steady, Evelyn gently tugged the microphone off the stand and took a step back. Her blue dress swirled elegantly around her ankles, sparkling with every step she took on the stage.

The words she practiced with Kyoya and Tamaki were smooth and precise. She could remember the countless of times that Kyoya had to stop her in the middle of the speech, and start all over again when she stumbled on a word. All of that practice paid off. She even heard her father's advice ringing in her head as she walked around the stage, trying to make eye contact with the crowd; "Don't practice what you preach. Preach what you practice."

The girl stopped in the middle of the stage and found a pair of eyes that kept her gaze as she spoke the last words, making the final point.

Silence.

Panic began to set in as no one reacted for a second. Then a few hands reacted quickly and they started to applaud her. Some even stood up for her. Pride swelled through her chest as she stepped off the stage and joined her family at the table. However, when she took her seat, she caught her uncle's eye and saw that he was displeased. What was I supposed to do? Look away?

No.

I couldn't help but send him a fake smile. That would probably get me in trouble later, but now, I didn't care.

"Wonderful presentation Evelyn." His voice was clear from the other side of the table. "Needless to say, I was impressed with how confident you looked."

"Confidence is not the only thing you would be surprised at." I replied. Aunt Robin did her best to hide her smile while she took a sip from her wine cup.

Music swelled over the crowd as the orchestra struck up a new waltz.

"I am also surprised that you were able to get the sons of prestigious families to volunteer as well. That must have been a hard job."

"On the contrary," She cut in quickly, "it was the headmaster who contacted me and made sure I was okay with it. They have been beneficial to us working wise. Not only that, but they were also able to pull some strings and get more supporters here as well."

I looked for my friends from my seat, but couldn't find them easily.

"Please excuse me, I'm off to enjoy the gala."

I was quick to up to my feet and leave the table in search for my friends. It surprised me to see the host club at work though. Kyoya, Tamaki, Mori and Honey stood with a group of men, discussing the families' support in the conservation.

The Twins and Haruhi found a group of women, probably the wives, talking about the different animals on the conservation. Haruhi's dress looked wonderful on her. The orange tulle stopped above her ankles, and a matching orange ribbon was tied around her waist. Evelyn studied the boys before she approached, and found to her dismay, they all wore black and white tuxedos. Deciding it was time to approach, Evelyn greeted the group of women first.

"Oh Ms. Richards!" Some of the women gasped as soon as Evelyn got closer. "Please, do join us."

Evelyn was happy to place on her best smile and approach the group.

"How are you ladies enjoying the gala?"

"It's wonderful!"

"Beautiful even!

"We definitely feel like we've been on the safari already!"

"That's wonderful to hear. Are there any questions I could answer for you maybe?" She offered.

"We were all wondering what it was that you do on the Conservation? Your presentation was wonderful, and you seemed confident in what you were talking about."

"Thank you ladies."

"Evelyn." The girl stopped her conversation when she heard her name called out, and turned to face her mentor. A smile still played on her lips as she finished her conversation with the wives of the donors. Haruhi stood next to her, enjoying the conversation, but both of them turned and face Mjomba.

"Oh! Mjomba, how are you?" Evelyn asked. "I wish to introduce you to the wives of our wonderful sponsors."

He took up the hand of one lady and kissed it gently, just like a gentleman would.

"It is my pleasure to meet you ladies. However, I must borrow Ms. Richards for a moment."

He held a hand out to Evelyn, who accepted it. Her hand was wrapped around his arm and she let him lead her away.

"I would be happy to go with you. I will return." She waved reassuringly at the company. "Please take care of them Haruhi."

"It's not a problem."

The ladies returned to their circle formation and chatted happily.

"So, Ms. Fujioka," one of the elderly women started, "what kind of schooling are you currently taking?"

"I'm studying right now at Ouran High School in Japan."

"Wow!"

"What a wonderful school!"

"How impressive!"

"So we can assume those other handsome men are from the same school?" The same woman questioned. "I easily recognize Mr. Ootori and Mr. Suoh. What could they all be doing here?"

"Ah, hello Madame Masuzi." A very honey-like voice broke the conversation.

All of the ladies turned their attention to the young men approaching the group. The one who spoke was Kyoya. As if it was contagious, all of the ladies instantly blushed and started to gush over the arrival of the men. Evelyn's parents decided it was time to join the group.

"Haruhi," Corrin inquired. "Did you happen to see where Evelyn disappeared to?"

"Yeah, she went off with Mjomba. He said he wanted to borrow her."

"Oh."

"What is it that you wanted to show me?

"Just trust me."

Mjomba gave Evelyn's hand a comforting squeeze, and that's when Evelyn knew something wasn't right. He refused to look at her as he lead her down the corridor, and suddenly a bad feeling swept over her. Trying to stop the man, Evelyn planted her heels in the ground and tried to get him to stop. Instead, there was a loud crack as her heels broke and she stumbled to regain her balance.

"What's happened?"

"It's more like what is happening."

Another voice interrupted her struggle. Evelyn whipped her head around to face the new comer and ask him for help, but stopped in her tracks. He wore a tuxedo, much like everyone else was, but it was his tattoos that made her stop. They were the marking of the rouges.

"I-I don't understand." She struggled even harder against Mjomba to retrieve her arm, but now it was locked in his grip.

"I warned you that the conservation shouldn't have taken those people in." Mjomba said slowly. "I'm only moving you out of the way for your own safety."

"But my parents! My friends, they're in there too!" A hand wrapped itself around her waist as she still struggled. Her hands were flailing as she hit whatever she could with her fists. "You can't hurt them!"

The rouge's face fell and a look of irritation crossed his face as he walked up to the flailing teen. She reached out to hit him, but her hand was caught.

"If you do not behave, you will be shot, understood?"

Evelyn stopped and glared hard at him. Hate seethed off the girl as she stopped struggling.

"Do not think twice that you threaten me."

With that being said, she pulled on her hand, and brought his arm to her face. Quickly, she reached out and bit him as hard as she could.

Grunting, the man released his grip on her and pulled his hand out of her mouth. Without thinking twice, the stranger's fist made contact with her face.

Evelyn knew that the blow was coming, but she wasn't ready for the pain that followed.

"Put her in the van. We don't have time to waste anymore."

She could feel Mjomba tugging on her waist, urging her in one direction that she could only assume was the van.

"What have they done to you?" She asked softly. "What have those refuges done to you that made you want to hurt us?"

"That is none of your concern now Bititi." Mjomba had answered her.

The feeling of betrayal hit her hard. Narrowing her eyes, she decided that she wasn't going to go without a fight. She dug her heels in again and struggled even harder than ever. She brought her elbow back as hard as she could, aim for a face or something close. A satisfying crunch and felt liquid on her elbow gave her the results she was looking for. While he loosened his grip, the teen spun out of his grasp and kicked him between the legs as hard as she could. The man with the tattoos sensed her anger and quickly turned around to face her as soon as he heard the commotion. His eyes widened to see Mjomba on the ground in a painful position.

"You are going to be hard to tame."

Her eyes flashed at his words and anger flushed through her.

"You are not going to ruin what I've worked so hard on." Her hair had fallen down around her shoulders, but her feather fell into her eye.

The tattooed man watched her, slightly amused at her retaliation. But he was distracted long enough for a figure to fall in front of him. The man looked down at the crouched down figure and saw that it was a teenage boy, only a little bit older than Evelyn herself. The boy's dark eyes startled the leader into taking a step back to go the other direction now that back-up had come for her. However, he yelped in surprise to see a pair of honey eyes glaring hard at him.

"Messing with my friends is a no-no!" Honey exclaimed hard before he perfected a toss that ended with the leader on the ground.

Mori turned to Evelyn and observed the state she was in. Her cheek was red and bruising, hair was askew and eyes were red. He could decide if they were red because of the anger, or red because of tears, but he decided on both.

"Are you okay?"

She looked away from Mori, visibly upset about everything that had happened. Carefully, he brought his hand up to her swollen cheek. She wasn't crying, not yet, but the pain was still fresh and it stung upon his gentle touch.

"Where's everyone else? My parents? The rest of the Host club?"

"They didn't notice a thing off." Honey reported happily.

The two teens turned to find the small boy tying the man up with rope and dusting his hands off. "Mori-chan and I met them in the hallway before they could do anything to ruin the party. Besides, we can't get you going back out there looking like that."

Evelyn looked back to Mjomba, who was now worrying about his nose. The feeling of hate returned instantly, but she turned away.

"I want to go home. I don't want to make a commotion, I just…"

Mori's heavy hand rested on the top of Evelyn's messy hair. She looked on the brink of tears, but she wasn't quite ready to cry.

"I know." Mori's voice was comforting to Evelyn. It gave her a little bit of hope and strength.

"Let's call the militia and bring them over to take care of these guys."

"Already on it."

Kyoya's voice shouldn't have surprised her, but she was a little taken back but his sudden entrance. Her attention instantly went to the entrance to find that Kyoya was alone.

"I began to look for you when you went missing." He explained the unasked question. "I wanted to introduce you to one of my father's investors who took an interest in you. However," Kyoya studied the scene in front of him closer. "I will be more than happy to tell him you are ill. I'll go get your parents."

"Everything has been taken care of." Kevin spoke softly as he brushed back a piece of hair that strayed into Evelyn's face. "The militia took care of everything."

"The guests," Evelyn started, ignoring the pain in her heart, "do they all suspect something?"

"No honey." Robin's answer was smooth. "Your mother is out there with them now as we speak. She really wanted to be here, but she didn't want to alarm the guests or Clark."

"May I go home?"

The room fell quiet as Robin and Kevin shared a look between each other. Sighing, Kevin pulled Evelyn into a tight hug. He took in the scent of her hair and held her head close to him. Mori felt a little out of place, even with Honey clinging on him like usual. This was a family situation, and he didn't even know why the pair of them were invited into the family meeting.

"I'm so sorry this has happened. Do you want me to go home with you?"

Evelyn pulled out of his grasp and smiled comfortingly at him.

"I'm fine. You have business to attend to. I'll go back by myself."

"No." Kevin's voice was firm. "At least take one of the boys back with you. I don't want you driving the road by yourself after an attack. Who knows, they could have someone waiting for you down the road."

"I'll go." Mori volunteered.

"Me too." Honey was quick to step up next to his tall cousin. "We don't want to leave Eve-chan by herself."

A/N: Okay, so I cut this down from what it was going to be, and it would be really long! Anyways, thank you Bloodcherry and Ashlyn Braere for your reviews on my last chapter! I'm glad the two of you like it! It makes me a happy person to hear that you guys enjoy it very much. Here's to you! Anyways, the next chapter will be lengthy again, and I hope you all like it!

Love,

Jazzy


	16. Nala

"Are you sure you're okay?" Honey turned in his seat and watched Evelyn carefully with his golden eyes. "You don't even want to change out of the dress?"

Evelyn kept her eyes focused on the road and refused to look away.

"I would like to see the lions before anything else. I won't put it past Mjomba to do something to them if he was willing to hurt my family."

The gate to the Lion's Den was shut tightly, just as Evelyn had left it, but it didn't settle her nerves at all. Mori volunteered to get the gate, but Evelyn just ignored him and jumped out with the keys in her hand.

"If you guys will go check on the buildings and make sure he didn't destroy anything, I would appreciate it. I'm going to check on the lions."

Evelyn didn't even bother waiting for a response as she trotted towards the gate. She could hear the soft snoring and rumbles from the lions, but that didn't mean she was satisfied.

Upon hearing their human arriving, the lions were stirred from their slumber. Nala was the first one to greet her, as always, but the others were slow to walking up to the pen. Relieved, Evelyn opened up the gate and took a step in to assure the lioness everything was okay.

But everything went to hell.

As headlights filled the conservation, bullets flew over Evelyn's head and hit the tree she was standing next to. Chips of the tree fell in her hair as she whipped around to see her attacker; gate long forgotten. She could see a hooded figure make his way towards the gate, gun poised and ready to shoot. Evelyn grabbed the first thing she could use for a weapon; a stick. Taking her stand, she raised the stick at him, not really confident in her abilities, but she did not back down.  
>She kept an eye on the man with the gun. There were orders everywhere in Swahili that demanded the structure to be ruined. She could only count two Jeeps, but that didn't tell her how many came with them.<br>"Do not fight back, or I will shoot." the man demanded in choppy English. "Move aside."  
>"Over my dead body."<br>"I can arrange that."  
>He took aim, but Evelyn was quick to attack. Using the stick, she forced the gun away from her direction and kicked his legs with all her might. He grabbed a hold of her leg and tugged, sending her crashing to the ground. The man quickly regained his composure and took aim as Evelyn scrambled to her feet. A roar ripped between the two fighting, and much to Eve's surprise, a force knocked her to her back.<p>

The gate was wide open.  
>Golden eyes stared her down, giving her a silent command to follow. A piercing scream told Evelyn everything she needed to know: Simba was on the attacker. Nala jumped off and raced to Simba and the attacker. A gun shot sounded off, and Nala fell.<br>"No!"

It was as if time stood still for Evelyn. As the girl scrambled to her feet, shouts were heard everywhere, and the rebellion retreated. All but the man lying underneath Simba. With a growl, Simba backed off and went to his fallen mate. Jumping to her feet, Evelyn rushed to the fallen warrior with tears in her eyes. Nala's eyes opened for a second as she studied Simba then Evelyn. With a heartbreaking shutter, the lioness closed her eyes.

"Nala!" 

By the time Mori and Honey was able to fight off the small group of soldiers, reinforcements had arrived along with the Host Club and Evelyn's family. By the time they had found Evelyn, she was mourning over the loss of her fallen protector and trying to keep all of her anger and grief in. No one had approached her yet, but that was soon to change.  
>Mori wanted to step forward and confront then silent girl. She held her arms tightly against her small frame as she studied the scene before her.<br>The buildings lay in shambles around the group, and the pens were torn apart. Some of the animals were missing, but one lioness was lying at Evelyn's feet, unmoving. Her lioness. The one that died to save her. The body of the rebel had been removed by someone else, but she didn't care. Everything she had worked on was in ruins and at the moment she wanted to break down. But she couldn't get past the numbness inside. Crouching down, Evelyn gently put a hand on the cold lioness and rubbed her head affectionately with tears prickling her eyes.

Hair was falling out of place and her bangs and brown feather hung over her eyes as her head was no longer held high. Mori felt something tug on his pant legs and turned to find honey next to him, looking up.  
>"What's going to happen to Eve-chan?"<br>"Evelyn."  
>The entire group turned to the man who called out her name. Her uncle was quick to catch up to her with concern in his eyes. She straightened up and kept her back to him and rewrapped her arms around herself.<br>"Are you okay?"  
>The girl remained silent as she pulled herself away from him. A frown grew on the man's face as he tried to approach her again. This time he was successful when he gently grabbed her arm.<br>"We need to get you cleaned up. You have had a rough night. Come back with me to the hotel and we will calm down."  
>"No. They need me here."<br>Mori started to step forward and held a hand out, but he was stopped. It was her father.  
>"Go back to town." it wasn't a request. "You are going to stay wherever Robin takes you. Don't stick around too long. She will be okay."<br>Mori felt another hand on his sleeve and found Haruhi holding onto it.  
>"Let's go senpai."<br>Mori gave once last glance towards Evelyn, but she was too occupied with her uncle to notice.

The car ride was dead silent. The Host Club managed to gather their things from the two months they had spent in Africa, though some had heavy hearts.  
>"I can't believe everything is going to end like this." Hikaru spoke slowly.<br>"It's not fair." his twin agreed.  
>"Kyo-chan, is there not something we can do?"<br>"I can tell you what you can do." robin spoke from the front of the car. She gave them a grave look in the rearview mirror.  
>"She needs friends."<br>"What will happen to her?" Tamaki asked.  
>Robin sighed.<br>"That's the question. Her uncle will make her finish high school first. It will be somewhere that she can learn how to be a lady. She's going to hate him forever."  
>"What about the conservation?" Mori finally asked the question that was on everyone's mind.<br>Robin looked away and sighed.  
>"It's going to shut down until we can come up with another plan and more funds." she strummed her fingers on the steering wheel and sighed. "Which will be hard to do. The attack on the gala and the conservation will really run off our donors. They won't return."<p>

A/N: I got it out! Yay! I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did! And I definitely look forward to reading the responses you all have. There's more where this came from, I promise I haven't forgotten you all!

Love,

Jazzy


	17. Welcome to Japan

Mori stares at the blank page in front of him, deterred, and with his mind blank. It was only the last paragraph of his assigned journal, asking how the trip ended, how lives were changed and what could be learned from it.

What could he mention? The power of human greed and pride? How heartless some people could be?  
>Evelyn's face immediately invaded Mori's mind, and he knew exactly what was learned, how there's still hope for humanity, regardless of all the hardships that they had been through. As he wrote, he began to wonder if he would ever see the high spirited girl ever again. He even failed to get any contact information, though he knew Kyoya would have it.<p>

But Mori couldn't bring himself to do it; to ask Kyoya for that simple request. It wasn't a matter of pride. Maybe it was?

Another sigh escaped from the tall boy as he set his pen down. What was he to do?

Not stay in this mood, that's for sure. School was starting back up tomorrow, and Mori had to make sure Honey and himself were ready.

Which was why he was working on the blasted report. Finally, he wrote something down, but wasn't completely satisfied with it. With another sigh, he closed the journal and left it sitting next to his school books. What an awful end to the summer vacation.

"Honey-sempai! Mori-sempai! Welcome back!" Girls greeted the pair all over the campus. Mori nodded back in his usual demeanor, but Honey seemed to be radiant more than usual today. Chatter filled the class room as everyone discussed their great big adventures in different countries.

"We worked at an animal conservation in Africa!" Honey answered happily when he was asked. "It was a lot of fun. I got to feed and take care of a lot of small animals, and Mori got to help take care of lions and stuff, see?"

The senior was quick to pull out his journal and flip to a whole bunch of different pages, pointing out the pictures.

"Oh? Who's that girl?" One of the girls pointed straight at Evelyn. "She looks really happy there."

"Oh!" Honey looked at the picture and smiled really big. "That's Eve-chan! Her parents owned the place and she ran it for them while they were gone. She also worked as an animal behaviorist."

"Okay class!" The teacher walked in quickly as everyone settled down. Her brown hair was pulled back into a strict bun again and her skin seemed darker as if she had been tanning. "I can't wait get reading your reports, so please pass them in."

"Sensei got to go with the group that went to Australia." Mori could hear a girl whisper to another one.

Evelyn took a deep breath in and straightened out her dress one last time before she entered the gates of her new school. She hated it. She had absolutely no desire to be here, but it was better than living in England with her Uncle, she supposed. The girl always knew she could count on her brother to step up for her when she needed him.

But right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand: getting through her final year at a strange school. Her brother's words echoed in her ears as she watched his black car drive off towards the zoo.

'_Don't be a bitch because something bad happened to you.'_

It was blunt, yes, but that was because when she was sent to Japan, she was sent fighting, kicking and screaming, throwing a tantrum.

St. Lobelia's Girl Academy loomed over her, outrageously tall and much closed in. She took a faltering step forward, and almost turned around and went home sick. She didn't like it already with the walls, looking like they were keeping people in. The perfectly manicured lawns didn't scream out natural, but the trees drew her attention. She wanted to crawl up one and hide away from the rest of the world, but she knew that would be frowned upon at the Academy.

She couldn't afford to be kicked out. That meant living with her Uncle in England unless there was another school that would accept her. If she had her way, she would be attending a public school, but she they all insisted her to become a lady.

As she walked through the crowded hallways of girls, all of them would scoot out of her way, watching her carefully as the gazelle back home watched lions. Or maybe it was the other way this time.

A bell rang, sending all of the girls scurrying off to their respective class rooms, and leaving Evelyn lost as ever with her class schedule in her hand. It was almost dangerous being out in the open like this.

"Lobelia." The sing song voice came from the end of the hallway.

Evelyn cautiously turned around to face her attackers.

"Lobelia!" Another perfectly pitched voice chimed in. Three figures danced closer and closer to Evelyn, who only moved to the wall to avoid getting danced over.

"Lobelia!" The final one chimed in and this time, Evelyn could see their faces much better.

The tallest one was the first to notice Evelyn trying to blend in with the wall, and failing to do so.

"What is this? A new fair maiden to join our ranks at Lobelia?"

Evelyn tried backing away from the trio, but found herself still against a wall. She silently cursed herself and forced a smile.

"Uhm, yes. I'm Evelyn Richards."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Evelyn-chan." The burnet purred as she started to pull Evelyn away from the wall and encouraged her to meet the other two girls.

"We make up the Zuka club!" The three chimed in after the introductions were made.

Evelyn was still unsure of the group and peeled herself away from the wall.

"It's really nice to meet you, but perhaps you can help me find my class please?"

Benio smiled a creepy smile that made Evelyn shiver as the older girl slipped and arm around Evelyn's shoulders.

"Certainly! This way please."

Evelyn found herself instantly regretting talking to the girls of the Zuka club. They were annoying her constantly and the fans were consistently talking about them. Which is why Evelyn took her bento and sought out solitude outside, away from the cafeteria and the classroom.

She found herself sitting under a tree in the garden, where there was nothing but peace and quiet.

As Evelyn dug into her lunch, her mind wandered away to the Host Club, and she started to wonder how close Ouran was to her school? She did remember Hikaru and Kaoru mentioning that it was another private academy. Maybe she could ask someone, and they could help her?

Nala's face popped in her mind as soon as her thoughts wandered towards the Host Club. Squeezing her eyes, Evelyn tried to shut out the memories, effectively this time.

The day couldn't have ended any quicker. The foreigner found that she hadn't made a single friend. Even though some people were nice enough to talk to her, she didn't want to have anything to do with them. She could feel their eyes following her around. The rumors were already getting started, and Evelyn could only ignore them. If they wanted to know the truth, they would ask her straight out, right?

As Evelyn walked down the nearly empty halls, she recognized the class president, and decided to stop her for directions to Ouran. Instead of getting a quick and chirpy answer, the girl's eyes grew wide behind the dark frames of her classes.

"W-why do you want to know where Ouran is?"

Evelyn frowned at the reaction and took a deep breath in.

"Because I'm looking for someone. You don't have to take me there, just point the way."

The senior girl was quick to give her a scared look and scurried away, blabbering about telling the Zuka club something. Evelyn ignored the reaction and gloomily walked out of the school wishing she could find the boys and Haruhi.

A/N: Hello again! Another chapter update! And these will be more frequent, I hope! What do you all think of this chapter? Please let me know if you like it or hate it! Anyways, I have shout-outs to- JapaneseClute, XxSilentHostessxX, The Midnight Shadow Star, Ayjah, Vivid, Rose Thourn, Bloodcherry, THEeditor-writer, round and round we go, fluffymagnetajellyfish, anonymous, EowynAhsokaLover, Kaitana08, Ashlyn Braere, SHADOW WITHIN, chance1612, MusicOfMadness. I know I'm a bit late on thanking all of you at once, so please forgive me. I deeply appreciate your comments because they are part of the fuel that keeps me going! I love you guys very much! Anyways, I'm starting to set a deadline, so let's say- every Saturday is update day, how about it?

Love,

Jazzy


	18. Falling from the Sky

"Wow! It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun in Africa!" One of Tamaki's customers chirped in as soon as the King was done retelling his stories. "We wish we could have gone with you!"

"Africa was no place to bring the ladies." Hikaru started off. "It was cool, but there were a lot of dangerous animals."

"And we'd feel bad if one of you ladies got hurt."

"None of you guys got hurt, did you?"

A silence had fallen over the Host Club for the first time ever, but Tamaki was quick to pick up the conversation.

"Well, we are all back, aren't we?" He managed to pull a beautiful rose out of the sleeve of his jacket and held it up to an unsuspecting girl. "Come, let's not dwell on the past."

"Ladies," Kyoya's smooth voice drifted across the room, causing all to fall silent as they anticipated his next words. "It is time to say farewell."

All the girls moaned and grumbled as they started to leave, but quickly changed their postures and waved happily at their hosts as they left the room.

"Good work today everyone!" Tamaki cheered as he danced around Haruhi and the others while they cleaned. The girl ignored him like usual and kept cleaning around him.

"Hey!" Honey cried out as he held his smart phone in the air victoriously. "I got an email from Auntie Robin."

At once, it seemed as if the entire room moved. The twins leapt over the couch and Tamaki rushed towards the little senior.

"What does it say? What does it say?"

"That everything is back in order, even though they had to push their project due date back. Other than that, everything seems to be going well."

"Anything about Evelyn?" Haruhi asked.

Honey's eyes scanned the email carefully this time, reading the whole thing.

"It says that her Uncle demanded for her to return to school. Eve-chan's father agreed, and she's living with her brother. It's says she's going to…Oh."

"What? What? What? Don't hold out on us!" The twins cried together.

Tamaki peered over Honey's shoulder as he read the email as well. The King's violet eyes grew wide as he kept re-reading the sentence over and over again.

"Men! Gather round! We are going to plan out a new mission! We will call it: Save Evelyn from St. Lobelia Girls' Academy!"

There was a pregnant pause before they all erupted.

"What?"

"Are you really from Africa?" A girl sitting next to Evelyn asked curiously.

The teenager was pulled from writing in her journal and paused to look at the listening group. It seemed as if it was the entire classroom was paying attention, awaiting the girl's answer.

"If you must know, then yes, I am from Africa." Evelyn answered bluntly without looking away from the cover of her leather journal.

She played with the worn out edges and tried to ignore the squeals of delight and chatter around her. It made her think that she could be able to make some friends here.

"Ladies, please get in your seats and pull out your poetry books. While we read some of the poems out loud, please be thinking about what the author has done with their form and line breaks so that you can use the same examples in your poetry portfolio next week."

"Hai!"

Evelyn found herself opening her journal again and began to write again, wondering if she could get a straight answer from anyone today about going to Ouran. So far, she had not found a single soul who would tell her outright. Every time she glanced at the class president, the girl would blush furiously and glance away. Evelyn decided it was time for a different approach; attempt to make friends, and then find Ouran.

It was finally gym class for Evelyn, but she had no desire to dance ballet like the rest of the girls were practicing. Some of the others were practicing a marathon race, but none of it interested Eve. She looked around for something else to participate in, and found a punching bag towards the back of the gym. Just as she took a step towards it, a set of arms intercepted her and spun her into a dancing move.

"What the-?"

"Ah! My flower, you need to dance with us!" Benio purred in her ear as she continued dancing.

"I don't want to. Please let me go." Evelyn spoke firmly.

"Don't go near those Ouran boys." Benio kept up her act as they spun around.

As the hands on her waist tightened, Evelyn couldn't help but feel panicked. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to keep the memories back, but Mjomba's face instantly popped into her mind and the lingering feel of his hands as he tried to take her away from the ones she loved. Caught. Trapped again. Evelyn had to get away.

"No!"

Before she even knew what was happening, Evelyn pushed Benio away and rushed off to join the marathon runners after all.

"Sempai!" All of the girls rushed toward Benio with love and affection, cooing over the supposedly injured senior. Benio only watched the retreating foreigner with a smile on her lips.

"What an odd flower indeed."

Evelyn tried hard to keep her focus on running. It didn't matter that the other girls were running to win, but Evelyn was looking for something that would keep her distracted to not think about what had just happened.

'_I hate being weak!' _She thought angrily as she pushed hard and decided she wanted to max out as much as she could. By the time she had reached the finish line, she was already caught up to the leaders. Instead of waiting around for the time to be read to her, she retreated to the locker room to change.

"So Richards-san?"

In the midst of fixing her hair, Evelyn turned to face one of the Zuka trio- Chizuru.

"What can I help you with?" Evelyn kept her gaze on the mirror fixated hard.

"They called you the Lion Whisperer back in Tanzania." Evelyn froze in the middle of letting her hair fall, but she tried to ignore the nosey girl. "Why aren't you there now?"

Evelyn tried to keep her cool and figure out the best way to tread the topic.

"Family business."

"For your uncle then?"

Chizuru didn't get an answer like she had thought she would. Instead Evelyn ignored her and pushed past her to escape the locker room. The bell to end the day rang and broke the silence. She took the chance to approach Chizuru.

"Please tell your Zuka club to leave me be. I have no interest in whatever it is that you do and I want no part in it. I'm here to finish school."

Evelyn calmly gathered her messenger bag and left the locker room.

"Hey! You can't talk to her like that!" One girl called out after Evelyn.

"How rude!"

Campus was pretty quiet, and Evelyn knew her brother would be a while before he would be here to get her, so she wandered towards the garden. A large oak tree caught the girl's attention, and was stationed a little further away from everything else. Deciding this was her best option, she climbed it without thinking twice. She managed to get to the thicker part of the flowers and leaves to where she was partially hidden. Her messenger bag was secured on a branch next to the one she was perched on, and she decided this would be her new hiding place, lady-like or not.

It was when she was lost writing in her journal when she heard the voices first. They brought her instantly back to reality and they were coming from the garden. Curious, Evelyn peered through the leaves. She saw seven figures standing around the water fountain, looking completely lost. Their blue uniforms were unrecognizable, but Evelyn could pick out that particular group anywhere.

"The boys and Haruhi!"

"We're lost, aren't we?" Haruhi asked the leader of the group, Tamaki.

"Of course we're not! Honey's radar says she's around here somewhere! Right Honey-sempai?"

"Right! Usa-chan and I know she's around here somewhere!" The golden-haired boy confirmed.

She moved forward, but a sickening crack stopped her in her scramble out of the tree.

"Oh shi-"

The supporting branch fell out from underneath her and sent the girl crashing to the ground. Everyone turned to face the threat, but stopped from attacking, running or screaming when they saw it was Evelyn. Honey pointed to Evelyn with the pink bunny in his hand and turned to the others.

"See! I told you she was around here somewhere."

Evelyn pushed herself up into a sitting position, not caring what she looked like. Mori took a step towards her with his hand held out.

"I knew we'd find each other." She whispered to herself before she lurched to her feet, pushed past Mori's outstretched hand and hugged him tightly around the waist, relieved. At first, Mori was unsure of what to do, he never held a girl like this, so he did what felt right. He put a hand on her head, the other around her back, and pulled her closer into his chest and rested his cheek against the top of her head, taking in her familiar scent.

"Sorry we're late!" Hikaru and Kaoru called out.

A/N: Aww! That's all I have to say! Oh, and TWO chapters in ONE week! I'm on fire! Maybe. Thank you to my two reviewers, and I shall see you guys next week. Expect more updates because the semester is coming to an end.


	19. Tea with the Boys

Evelyn looked around the meeting room of the Host Club in wander. Never had she seen such a decorated room in her life, but she was sure this was minor compared to all of the other rooms in the school. She held a tea cup in her hands and sat between Mori and Honey on the couch.

"Why did we have to come back to your school?" She asked as her eyes kept wandering the room.

"Because we have history with the Zuka club." Kyoya answered. "It is for the best we meet here instead of sticking around."

"Oh." Evelyn fell silent as she surveyed the fancy tea cup in her hand and her thoughts began to trail away. The Hosts, except Kyoya, changed nervous looks across the group.

"What are you doing at Lobelia?" Honey asked.

"Finishing high school." She answered without any hesitation. "I am living with my brother and attending Lobelia to finish my final year in high school."

"Yeah, but its Lobelia." Kaoru stated flatly. "You don't _just _finish high school there. That's what cram school is for."

Evelyn bit her lip and looked back up to the group. Her eyes held a small flame, but her feather drifted towards her face. She brushed it out of the way, and that fire instantly died as she remembered what she was there for.

"I am to learn how to be a 'proper lady of society'." Her voice fell slightly as she leaned back into the chair in a very un-ladylike fashion. "I don't want to be here."

"So," Tamaki asked as he crossed his legs and held his knee with cupped hands. "Why are you here?"

A scowl crossed the tan girl's face as she sat back up.

"I already told you why I'm here, Tamaki. It was either live with my Uncle and finish in England, or live with my brother and finish in Japan. It's obvious why I chose Japan."

Silence fell across the Host club again, but Evelyn was quick to stand up. She set the tea cup down on the table next to the couch.

"I appreciate you guys finding me. It brings me relief to see you all doing well. Please feel free to come by and visit me. I'll be sure to drop in as well."

"Why are you leaving us so fast?" Honey cried and stood to follow her. His golden eyes were already wide and tearing up as he hugged Usa-chan even closer. "You just got here!"

She crouched down and placed a gentle hand on his head.

"I'm running late for my private lessons. Trust me, if I could stay, I would."

"Oh?" Haruhi asked. "What kind of lessons?"

The girl's face clouded a bit.

"More lady-like lessons my Uncle insisted on." She grumbled.

"I don't understand." Evelyn turned to the twin that started the sentence, Hikaru. "I thought it would be your father making decisions for you."

She scoffed and shook her head.

"There's a lot that I don't even understand. But as soon as I figure out what happens, I'm gonna get some answers."

She turned to leave, but Mori stood up quick and reached out to grab her arm. Surprised, Evelyn turned around to face him, eyes wide. He could remember that she had been grabbed in a similar way before, and dropped his hand away quickly.

"Here" He held a card out between his fingers towards her. "It's all of our numbers if you need us."

Evelyn studied the card closely and felt overwhelmed with emotions. She managed a smile and bowed politely to them.

"Thank you for taking care of me."

The driver of the black car was silent as his charge slid into the back seat. He glanced up in the rear view mirror to catch a glimpse at her, waiting for directions.

"To the zoo please."

"As you say miss."

Mori stood at the window and watched the black Lincoln drive away without any hesitation.

"She's troubled."

Honey spoke softly enough for only Mori to hear. The rest of the Host Club sat on the couches, talking quietly between each other.

"She's still worried about the conservation." Haruhi spoke gently as she joined them at the window.

"Well," Kyoya picked up, his voice carrying across the room. "She didn't leave on a good note."

"Then maybe we can do something to ease her worries." Hikaru decided. "I'm sure there's some way we can help her from here."

Kyoya smiled his evil smile and whipped out pictures in his hands. His glasses glinted in the light as he faced the rest of the club.

"What are those?" Honey asked oh-so-innocently.

"Calendars." Kaoru spoke bluntly. "But how are they going to help Evelyn?"

"By selling them of course!" Tamaki jumped from his seat on the couch and waved his arms about in an overly grandeur fashion. "With selling the calendars to our most loyal fanatics, twenty-percent of the funds will go to the conservation!"

"That would settle her mind for a little bit." Honey agreed, but looked back up to Mori, who was still watching the outside. "Why would her uncle suddenly interfere?"

"Not only that, but she needs to be saved from Lobelia!" Tamaki sighed as he plopped himself back down on the sofa and dramatically ran his fingers through his hair. "Maybe we can give her uncle some money…"

"You can't buy people!" Haruhi scolded Tamaki. "That's almost like slavery, and that's illegal."

"Surely there's something else we can do." Honey skipped back to the couches and plopped himself down.

"For now, this is all we can do."

Evelyn kept her gaze forward as she weaved in and out of the crowds at the zoo. She tried her best to not stop and coax an animal out from hiding to pet it, but it was hard for her. Especially if she knew she was being watched by the butler her Uncle had sent to live with them. But much to her comfort, he only tailed behind her when she wasn't at school.

'_What's his name again?'_

"Miss Evelyn."

The girl looked up in time to see that her butler had stopped in front of her and opened the door to her brother's office.

"Thanks." She muttered under her breath and pushed past him to face her brother- who was currently occupied with entertaining a beautiful young woman. Evelyn froze in place as she studied the scene before her. The dark skinned woman kept her back turned to Evelyn, but she stood towering over Lee, who kept a smile hidden behind his hands.

"…which is why you should let me on the team." She finished with a huff, and her blue eyes were unwavering. Brown curls of hair spiraled into the girl's eyes, but she didn't even care. She wore leopard printed scrubs, and judging her by her looks, Evelyn could only assume that this woman was a veterinarian.

"Ah, Takigawa-san, please meet my sister, Evelyn. Evelyn, this is Matzuki Akemi."

The woman turned around, eyes still on fire, but her gaze softened when she reached out a hand. Evelyn instantly fell in love with the woman's personality and accepted the outstretched hand.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you Ms. Richards. I've heard a lot about you. Will you be working with the lions while you are here?"

Evelyn let her hand fall back to her side and quickly responded.

"No." The teen realized her bad manners and could feel her butler glaring holes in the back of her head. "I mean, I'm only here to finish my studies for the time being."

The woman actually looked interested as she smiled and readjusted her hair.

"Oh really? What school are you attending?"

Evelyn smiled as politely as she could without cringing.

"St. Lobelia. It's working out just wonderfully."

"Interesting. You don't seem to be the Lobelia type to me."

"It was just the way things worked out. Please, don't let me keep you from your discussion. I will simply wait outside."

"We were actually just finishing up." Lee stood up from his chair and extended a hand to Akemi. The young vet turned around to face him, surprise written on her face. She took his hand and shook it. "Welcome to the team. I expect good work from you."

She beamed happily and thanked him quickly.

"I'll begin right away. It was nice meeting you Evelyn."

The teen had to fight urge to be her regular, tomboyish self and she stepped out of the woman's way.

"It was my pleasure."

Lee watched the woman leave, then focused on his sister.

"So, Evelyn, how was your day?"

A/N: Thank you for my reviewers and support. Next week is final week, so please expect quicker updates, they're coming and I'm getting excited with where it's going! I look forward to hearing from you all!

Love,

Jazzy


	20. Saving Kitties

"Hello my little butterfly."

The sultry voice took Evelyn by surprise. The girl kept her calm, however, and glared up at Benibara, who was, yet again, trying to get the girl's attention.

"What do you want?"

The Zuka club president sighed as she propped her elbows on Evelyn's desk and placed her chin in the palms of her hands. All the girls behind Evelyn sighed like love-struck idiots and some even giggled.

"I'm trying to figure out how you can keep the act up."

"Please enlighten me."

Evelyn looked back down to her notes for poetry, but her mind kept wandering away. Today, it was harder for her to focus because she knew exactly where to find her friends and she wasn't as alone as she thought.

"You secretly want to be a lady with the full effect, am I right? I can feel that you are a strong person, but out of your element. You do not let any man protect you and you don't want a man in your life."

Amused, Evelyn tore her attention off the pages of her work and looked at Benio in the eyes, trying to decide what to say.

"I don't know what you are trying to read into, but I don't like it when people try to read into me. Especially when they're wrong."

"You shouldn't be so rude to Benibara!" One of the girls snapped testily.

Evelyn turned her attention on one of the love-struck girls.

"I am sorry if I had insulted any of you ladies. I am only here to finish my education and I am not looking for distractions."

The classroom broke out into murmurs and whispers, all but Benio. The senior smiled at her fellow classmate. It was a smile that sent chills up Evelyn's spine and caused her to scoot her chair back a little bit.

"So what about the Host Club? Are they not distracting you?"

"I have known the Host Club long before I met you or even came here." The words flew out of Evelyn's mouth before her brain had a chance to process what was getting said; though she instantly regretted it.

Benibara's face fell and she straightened up.

"And allow yourself to be trapped by their manly ways? They'll oppress you."

"They cannot 'oppress' me any more than I am now." She muttered grumpily. "I don't need someone telling me what friends I can and cannot have because I am confident in my judgment."

"Okay ladies!" The teacher walked into the room and caught everyone's attention. She held their attention and keep their focus away from the two seniors in the back. Evelyn kept her hard gaze on the teacher as she tried her best to ignore the watchful eyes of Benio.

"Hello Miss."

The girl nodded to her butler as she slipped in the backseat. Bewildered at the girl's sudden cold attitude, he quickly shut the door and paced to the driver's side. Evelyn let her stuff fall to the floorboard without a care.

"Please take me home."

"Will that be all Miss?"

"Don't let any of those stupid girls get in the way of the car."

The butler looked out the window and spotted the girls Evelyn pointed out. The trio stood at the door way, leaning on each other and watching Evelyn leave.

"Bullies Miss?"

"A thorn in my side is all."

The car lurched forward and assisted the young woman to her escape. Evelyn sighed as she watched the scenery pass around her. The tall buildings loomed dangerously over her head as soon as they drove through town.

'_Ah! I remember his name! Luke!'_

"Luke?"

"Yes Miss?"

His grey eyes peered back at Evelyn through the rearview mirror. She kept the gaze with her strong eyes and didn't back down.

"I would like for you to call me Evelyn or Eve. If you're going to be with me until I graduate, then we might as well become accustomed to one another."

"If you insist. Was there anything else?"

"Not yet. I don't know anything about having a butler around, so if I do something that is against your work ethics, please let me know."

The car fell silent once again. Sighing, Evelyn leaned back into the seat and watched the city scene pass before her eyes. Horns were honking, and cars were backed up bumper to bumper. She could hear Luke sigh at the delay they faced.

"Work traffic?"

Luke shook his head.

"No, it's too soon to be work traffic; must have been an accident. I'll try to find another way home."

"Whatever you want to do is fine."

The Cadillac turned down a smaller street and strolled through between taller apartment building. Evelyn let her gaze fall on an abandoned building with broken windows, missing doors and the gate was falling apart. A small orange tabby cat stood at the remains of the gate, tail flickering, as he watched the car worm through the abandoned looking street.

"Stop."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Luke nervously glanced up into the mirror and studied his charge. She didn't look back, but kept her gaze fixed on the tabby.

"Please stop Luke."

The car pulled over to the side of the road, and without even waiting for Luke to make the full stop, Evelyn was already unbuckled and had the door open.

"Evelyn, wait!"

The girl ignored her chaperone as she walked across the street towards that house. The tabby's eyes widened as he watched the girl get closer, but he didn't move away from the gate. Evelyn approached the cat with the up-most confidence and crouched down with her hand held out. Curiously, the cat approached her and sniffed the outstretched fingers. A purr erupted throughout the cat and closed his eyes as he pressed his face against her fingers. Her heart instantly melted as the cat meowed weakly at her.

"Evelyn, this isn't a good neighborhood to be stopping at."

Evelyn ignored her butler's warning and looked up to see more eyes peering back at her from the house.

"Stay there Luke."

"But Eve-"

She motioned for him to stay behind one more time before she stood slowly and approached the watchful eyes. Evelyn didn't falter, but kept her gaze steady on them, even when she crouched down to their level. Her poofy Lobelia dress ruffled on the ground, and caught the attention of her new friends. A large, long-haired calico was the first to leave the shadows; four kittens followed her trail. Evelyn couldn't help it anymore.

"Please help me take these guys to the car."

"I don't think that's a good-"

"Luke!" The firmness in her voice made the butler stop. "I need your help. Please. That's all I'm asking of you."

"Do you wish for me to call a veterinarian?"

Evelyn didn't answer Luke as she watched the cats and their kittens eat from their food bowls. She gently ran a hand across the top of a black, long-haired kitten. It ignored her as her fingers brushed through the long fur, but when she went to its grey and black tabby, short haired sister, the little one scooted away just out of reach. Evelyn instantly recognized the sign and left her be. Her attention went to the third kitten, another female with long orange fur on the top and a white belly and paws.

"Evelyn?" The butler tried again, but was ignored.

Her hands went to work, feeling the large mother cat up and down. The calico allowed Evelyn to pull her away from the food bowl so she could be closely examined.

"Will you get a small flashlight from that bag? It looks like a pen."

"What are you doing?"

"Giving them all a checkup."

Luke turned around and grabbed a small, silver stick out from the bag she had brought down from her room. It was only on the outside pocket, but he didn't even want to know what he would find once he looked in. The metal was cold against his hand, but her fingers wrapped around it hard and warmed it up quickly. Momma cat purred relentlessly, much like her mate when Evelyn first approached him.

The girl was now changed out of her school clothes and dressed comfortably in her khakis and short-sleeved shirt. Her hair was pulled up into a pony tail, and Luke noted a different glow about her; he had never seen Evelyn so relaxed.

"You know how to do that?"

She pulled her attention away from the cat long enough to match Luke's steady grey eyes. He couldn't ignore that different glint in her eyes. Strands of hair fell against her face and the feather freed itself from the confinements of the pony tail holder. Even Luke fought the urge to brush it away.

"I know you don't have much hope for me being a lady of 'society' or whatever bullshit my uncle has fed you." Her voice was still firm and her gaze didn't falter at all. "However, if you know anything about my family, you would know that my specialty is animals."

Her attention immediately turned back to the calico cat again as she clicked the flashlight on. The yellow eyes of the calico shut after Evelyn shut the flashlight off.

"Clear eyes. Just skinny though, aren't you big momma?" Evelyn received a meow in response. "Will you just hand me my bag Luke?"

He obeyed the command and let the bag drop next to Evelyn. She let the cat go as she dug to the depths of her bags and pulled out a stethoscope.

"You keep that in your bag, just hanging around?"

"I worked as the Vet's assistant when I wasn't working with the Lions. They needed as much help as they could get."

Evelyn slipped the stethoscope around her neck.

"You were dedicated. What happened?"

Evelyn fell silent as she retrieved the calico once again and press the round part of the instrument against the chest of the cat. She listened closely to the heartbeat and kept count.

"Good heart beat." She muttered to herself and let the tool rest around her neck. She looked back at Luke, slightly startled. "Oh, I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

"What happened?" He noted how quickly his charge stiffened. "Or am I getting too personal for you?"

Evelyn shrugged it off as she poked and prodded the feline in her hands again. When the cat passed her examination, Evelyn let her back to her food. The glow quickly faded away and Evelyn suddenly looked drained.

"Everything bad that could happen did happen." She spoke softly. "I'll tell you if you tell me something Luke."

He cocked his head, interested to the girl's proposal.

"Okay."

"Are you reporting everything I do back to my Uncle?"

Luke watched her for a reaction, but her face remained stone and unreadable. He decided to choose his next words carefully.

"I only tell him about your progress towards becoming a lady. I don't give any details, and what you do with the cats is safe with me."

Evelyn nodded her head as she let his words sink in. She didn't know whether she should feel relieved that he wasn't giving her uncle full details, or worried that he was even reporting back to her uncle at all.

A/N: Whoo! Another chapter is up! And I'm done with my first year of college too! Yay! Because I'm on break, expect quicker updates! I'm gonna finish this bad boy soon I think! Thank you once again for all of the reviews and I look forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Love,

Jazzy


	21. Surprise!

Honey skipped happily down the halls, Usa-chan held securely in his arms, and humming happily to himself. Mori followed him closely, but his eyes were ever-so watchful, as always; but he just couldn't ignore the happiness that Honey radiated. Something was up. Honey's been in a great mood ever since this morning after he talked to Kyoya, which made Mori begin to question what was said.

The sound of shoelaces slapping on the ground yanked Mori out of his thoughts.

"Hold on."

Honey stopped in his tracks and looked down at his shoes with a frown. He looked back up to his tall cousin with a pout, who immediately bent over and tied his shoe for him. There were gasps, squeals and awes behind the cousins as Mori put effort into tying the shoe.

"Be careful." He warned.

"Thanks Mori-chan!" The boy chirped happily before he continued his skip to Music Room 3.

Mori let out a short sigh as he watched Honey with his carefree and laidback attitude.

'_They're plotting something.'_

It was a surprise to Mori though, when he opened the door and found the room without any guests. Honey continued his happy gait to the couches and plopped himself down on one of them. Kyoya and Tamaki stopped their talking and looked up to see Mori making his way to the group.

"Where's Haru-chan and the twins?" Honey asked.

"They are out doing some favors for us. They'll be back shortly."

Mori silently took his seat next to Honey and glanced around the room, still surprised there weren't any customers at all. He couldn't recall any memo or mention that they wouldn't be serving anyone; not that he minded. The double doors were forced open with loud bang, catching everyone's attention. Mori didn't even have to look to know that it was the twins, dragging Haruhi in between them.

"Sorry we're so late!" The twins spoke at once.

Haruhi looked actually relaxed between them and she tried to hide a smile.

"Mission is a success!" Hikaru spoke happily as he released his hold on the girl.

"But we had to make a stop along the way." Kaoru added on.

Now Mori was confused.

'_What is going on?'_

"You guys just left me! I still can't maneuver around this big place!"

Evelyn pushed past the underclassmen and tried to hold a mischievous orange tabby. The male purred relentlessly as he gave up on fighting the iron grip of his human; he resorted to laying limp in her arms, dangling his upper half over her arm and looking at the world upside down, surveying his new surroundings.

"Ah! Wait!"

The flap of her messenger bag moved and three feline heads poked out. The host club's attention was immediately fixated on the cats Evelyn had snuck into the school. The calico and two of the kittens leapt out of bag, much to Evelyn's dismay.

"Way to go guys. Don't listen to me. That's okay. Just frolic around this place like you own it." She muttered as she walked over to the lounge area and sat down in one of the chairs. She gingerly picked her bag up and reached in only to hiss in pain and scowl. "Okay little one, don't be feisty."

She pulled out the small tabby out of her bag and set it in her lap.

"Why did you bring all these cats here?" Kyoya almost sounded disgusted as he watched the smoky black kitten twirl around his long legs.

"Pick him up Kyoya." Evelyn's voice almost sounded challenging, something Kyoya wouldn't ignore.

Kyoya sighed and bent over to retrieve the kitten. Instead of letting Kyoya pick him up, the black one flopped on his back and reached up to pat at his fingers. Little slivers of claws were exposed, but the kitten never caught his target. Amused, Kyoya crouched down and proceeded to play with his new-found friend.

"I brought them here because they need a home. My brother said I could keep the parents, but I'd have to find the kittens a home. I was hoping I could ask you guys to help me."

The twins found themselves drawn to the orange and white kitten. They both held onto a piece of string they had found and watched with amusement as the kitten couldn't decide which one to follow and chase.

Tamaki's eyes got instantly wide and lit up with excitement as he reached out to touch the tabby on Evelyn's lap. She could feel the kitten tense on her lap; fur stood on its end and the kitten's ears fell down as she growled and took a swipe at the reaching fingers and made contact with her target. Tears filled his violet eyes as he drew his hand back and stuck fingers in his mouth.

"Ouch!"

As he whined about the scratch on his finger, Evelyn frowned at the King and shook her head.

"I have a Band-Aid in my bag." She offered. "Here Takashi, she might like you long enough."

Mori didn't have a choice as the kitten was dumped into his care. He blinked as he studied the tabby, who in turn watched him with her green eyes. Mori was careful, and offered her to smell his fingers. The tabby was careful as she sniffed his fingers and even rubbed her face against him.

Evelyn took the chance to look up from her work with Tamaki's finger and grinned.

"That's a good sign. She wouldn't do that to me."

Haruhi crouched down next to Evelyn and examined Tamaki's hand. Haruhi pulled out ointment from her pocket and held it up, offering it to Evelyn and curious about the kitten's damage.

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked.

"Oh," Evelyn leaned away and let Haruhi tend to him. "Well, you know how dogs mark their territory?" Haruhi nodded. "Okay, when cats rub their faces up against a human, they are marking you as _their _human."

"I didn't know that."

"Not many do." Evelyn smiled at the twins' comment. "So, can you guys help me? They're ready to go on without their parents now, and I want to give them to someone I know. They've already had a check up, baths and their shots."

"Yeah!" Hikaru was quick to answer. "Well take this one!" The orange and white kitten took the opportunity to pounce on Kaoru's string. Her tail swished back and forth playfully.

"You gonna name her?" Honey asked, now enthralled with the cats.

The twins shared a look and grinned at each other. "Yumi-chan!"

Evelyn turned in her seat and focused her watchful gaze on Kyoya, who let the kitten sit in his lap.

"I'm sure my parents would not mind bringing him home for a little bit." Kyoya started. "But we didn't bring you here to just get rid of kittens, Evelyn."

"Yes, I know, but it always helps regardless." The two adult cats returned from venturing around the room and jumped into Evelyn's lap. The girl smiled happily and began to pet both of the cats. "What's going on?"

The room fell silent as all eyes turned on Kyoya and Tamaki, waiting on the answer. Kyoya cleared his throat and leaned back, petting his kitten. Evelyn was instantly reminded of a bad guy with his pet cat and had to stifle a giggle. Tamaki took the chance to push the issue on with his bandaged hand.

"We want to discuss the conservation with you." He stood up and gestured wildly with his hand. "Because of the sacrifice and all of the effort you have been put through, we decided to help you."

Kyoya glared at his friend through his glasses and set the kitten down on the coffee table and stood up. There were thin packages in his hand, but he kept whatever it was hidden.

"Sit down idiot; you don't even understand what's going on." Tamaki whimpered, but he listened to his friend anyways. "As a Host Club, it is part of our duty to satisfy our fans. One of the ways we do that is with selling calendars or photos online. However, because of the various photo opportunities we had while we worked with you, I was able to piece together a calendar featuring us working." As if to prove his point, Kyoya's slender fingers reached into the package and pulled out a calendar. He showed the cover to the group. "We decided that sixty percent of the sales will be directly donated to your conservation. Based on our recent sales, we can only assume you'll be getting nearly thirty-thousand dollars."

Evelyn's heart felt like it completely stopped. Her eyes flashed between all the familiar faces in the room as her vision grew a little bit blurry.

"No way."

Kyoya smiled back in return, but he was taken by surprise when Evelyn threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. The two cats that had resided in her lap, jumped to the ground in order to avoid getting trampled over by the excited girl.

"Thank you so much!"

Without wasting another second, she turned and gave Tamaki a hug too. She couldn't help but laugh with excitement.

"Thank you guys!"

Chatter filled the room after Evelyn shared hugs with everyone. She quickly glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall and gasped a little.

"Ah shit. I need to go. Lady Lessons are again today."

"Do you need us to take you back?" Hikaru asked. "We left your butler behind at the house."

Evelyn smiled sheepishly and bit her lip.

"I do need a ride if one of you guys doesn't mind."

"I'll take you back." Mori's baritone voice broke through the chatter.

"Thanks. Let me gather the cats."

The car ride was silent for the most part. The two sat in the back seat of Mori's limo, both occupied with the kitten.

"You never said if you were gonna keep her, Takashi."

"I will." He didn't even waist a second answering her. "When do you get to go back to Africa?"

"That's the million dollar question." She chuckled lightly. "I don't know when I get to go back."

"Why?"

The question shouldn't have surprised Evelyn, but it did. She couldn't recall a time when Mori wanted to speak so much for the last four months that she had known him.

"The future is so unclear right now. Everything that happened during the summer- I'm still trying to make sense of it all. I feel like I've left things undone, and I hate that the most. If I could just go back and finish what I left, then I wouldn't mind living in Japan. I like it here; I just don't wanna live under the conditions that I'm living in."

"So what do you plan on doing after you graduate?"

Evelyn shook her head and focused her gaze on the passing city.

"I still plan on going back to Africa. If the conservation isn't there, I'll start back over. If it is, I'll make sure to finish what I've started."

"What does your Uncle want you to do?"

"Marry to some rich guy and not work a day in my life. I'd be a damn Trophy Wife."

Mori watched her reflection as her smile fell. Her shoulders fell as she leaned against the window, but Mori knew she was avoiding his gaze.

"You don't have to live like that."

"I know."

She fell silent again as she watched the city. Dark grey clouds were moving in on the crowded town and even thunder rumbled across the sky.

"Are you trying to get the place set up for public viewing still?"

Evelyn nodded; her black pony tail was bobbing up and down.

"Set it up and launch it for public viewing. All the animals will be used for behavior researching and there will be education presentations for each of the different animals."

"Will you be doing that?"

"No. I'm just the animal behaviorist. I make sure all the animals will be ready to face public viewing. After I feel that everything is set, I'll figure out what to do from there. Who knows, maybe I'll come back and go to vet school here." She looked back out the window and instantly recognized the neighborhood she was in. The middle sized houses looked high dollar, so when they stopped in front of Evelyn's home, it wasn't a surprise that it looked a little bit more modest than the ones that surrounded it.

"Here's my house." Evelyn turned back and smiled gently at Mori. "I can't even begin to thank you enough for everything that you have done for me. It means a lot to the animals as well and-"

Evelyn frowned as she realized that she was rambling, but she stopped short when she realized that they were still parked out in front of her house.

"Well, I should go. Thanks for taking the kitten. She'll love living with you."

Evelyn didn't even wait for the driver to come around and open the door for her. The two adult cats stuck their heads out and watched Mori as Evelyn walked away. He wasn't even thinking when he got out of the car and followed her to the door. Evelyn turned around, surprised that he had followed her, but what really shocked her was when he wrapped a strong arm around her back and the other cupped the back of her head. Her eyes went wide with shock as he leaned in closer and closed the distance between their lips.

Evelyn never thought that something would feel so right. Her eyes closed to take in the moment and her head was overloaded with happy emotions that she didn't even know the door behind her had opened.

A/N: Yay! A kiss! :D And yes, two chapters on the same day! House sitting gets kinda boring when the internet is down and all you can do is read a book, type or watch a TV. I am also happy to say that we're almost done, I promise. Give me another five or ten chapters. Leaning towards five though. :P Anything can happen between now and the end.


	22. Welcome to Ouran!

"Who was he?"

Evelyn wiggled in her seat, nervous and partially afraid to look her brother in the eyes after she was discovered. She asked Mori to leave, or more demanded that he left, so that she could deal with her brother herself. Lee had decided to come home early since Evelyn's teacher decided to cancel her lessons for the day. Now, she was faced with discussing something embarrassing to her big brother.

Evelyn let out a short sight.

"Evelyn- who was he? I thought Lobelia is all girl school."

"It is." Evelyn snapped. Her eyes went to Lee's face and guilt suddenly filled her as he looked a little bit shocked at her outburst. "Sorry." Her eyes locked onto Lee's while she took a deep breath in. "I worked with him on the conservation. He and his friends are the ones who organized the gala."

Lee leaned back in his recliner and sighed heavily.

"I just wish you could finish school without any issues."

Evelyn sat up straighter in her chair at the word issues.

'_What is that supposed to mean?'_

"What? He's just a guy. Things like that are supposed to happen."

"No, not just guy issues. You don't think I don't know about your school life?"

Her eyes narrowed as she glared her brother down. She scooted closer to the edge of her chair ready to leave.

"What do you know of my school life? I'm just trying to get through and go back."

"You have no friends, Evelyn, and those girls in that club will only cause you trouble."

"You think I don't know that?" She took a deep breath in and sighed again. "I want out of there."

"I know you do. Just go get homework stuff. I've got a lot of stuff I need to do tonight. This problem will be resolved tomorrow."

Evelyn's scowl didn't leave her face as she gathered her things up and retreated to her room. The two large cats shared looks, and then turned their glare to Lee before they pranced after their girl.

"Okay class, today we are going to try a different writing practice." The teacher stood at the front of the room, chalk in hand. "Haikus are an important part of Japanese culture. Samurai used them for battle as words of encouragement or even last words before death." The teacher's hawk eyes swept across the room, making sure she made eye contact with all of the girls before she continued. "Thankfully, we're not going that deep today. You ladies know how Haiku's are formed out, so please write the first thing that comes to mind. You'll have five minutes."

Short, frustrated sighs rippled across the room, along with some mummers of agitation. Evelyn watched the teacher as she scolded one student who decided to openly complain. Evelyn turned her attention to the task at hand, and tried to not sigh as she wrote down words that matched the pattern of the Haiku.

_There is no greater _

_pain, than feeling powerless_

_against the cruel fates._

She frowned at the words. The urge to rip that paper to shreds won as Evelyn crumpled the scratch piece of paper into a ball. The frail paper, now crumpled, was shoved into Evelyn's desk after receiving glares for her behavior. A knock on the door interrupted everyone's thoughts, but the visitor didn't wait long at the door. The teacher looked annoyed, but she strolled over, and exchanged quiet words with him. When the short many retreated, the teacher strolled down the isle of desks, watching carefully over the girls. However, the sound of heels echoing off the tile stopped abruptly at Evelyn's desk. She stooped low, reading Evelyn's new Haiku, and nodding with each line.

"Ms. Richards, there is someone here to help you move out of your locker and into your new school."

Evelyn stopped writing in the middle of her word and set the pen down.

'_Did I just hear right?'_

Evelyn turned her head, and looked into the grey eyes of her teacher. Relief instantly flooded her chest and she turned quickly to shove her stuff from the desk in her backpack. The teacher remained standing by Evelyn's desk with her hand held out.

"Your last assignment please."

The paper was handed to the teacher without a second thought. Evelyn gathered her bag and rushed out of the room, ignoring whispers and glares that followed behind her. Evelyn didn't care; she was finally free.

She tried her best to not run down the long hallways to her locker, but her pace picked up when she saw the back of three Ouran uniforms.

"No way."

Her voice echoed through the hall and caught the attention of the trio. Kyoya's glasses flashed in the brightly lit hallway as a smirk appeared on his pale face. Honey's eyes lit up and he literally launched himself off the broad shoulders of his cousin, and aimed to Evelyn. The girl chuckled as she received Honey's hug.

"I can't even begin to find the right words to tell you how happy I am!"

Evelyn held tight onto Honey and spun them around in a circle, giggly uncontrollably.

"Wee!"

Evelyn let Honey back down and turned to Kyoya and was quick to hug him too.

"How did you guys do it?" She asked excitedly.

"We pulled strings." Kyoya answered after she had released him and turned to face Mori.

A small smile played on the boy's face as he was prepared to give her a congratulating hug. However, three Lobelia uniforms stepped in the way and slowed Evelyn as a slender hand reached out and stole Mori's hug.

"Fair maiden!" Benibara's voice was a bit harsher than before as she wrapped her arms around Evelyn tightly. "You would not dare leave us, would you?"

The unwanted feeling of arms around her arms instantly froze Evelyn.

'_It's all too familiar. I can't take this!'_

"Let me go!" Evelyn's demand echoed down the hallway with her voice breaking. The panic was already setting in; the urge to flee was filling her thoughts.

'_I need to escape!'_

The ground beneath her was gone and the arms around her were forced away. Mori set Evelyn next to the lockers and stepped between her and the Zuka club. Benibara's face paled as she was faced against the tall boy.

"You Host Club boys just can't waltz in here and steal one of _our _girls!" The youngest of the trio shouted angrily.

Kyoya used the opportunity to speak up. His glasses glinted again, but this time, hiding his eyes completely as he spoke with the fake happy tone.

"We are well aware of what is going on in your mind, Benibara-senpai; however, we are well associated with Ms. Richards, and are well equipped to deal with her troubles, more than you'll ever be. I'd say this is another win for the Host Club."

Mori laced his fingers with Evelyn and tugged gently on her hand to lead her away from the school and safely to Ouran's campus. Honey fell into step on her other side, carefully watching the Zuka club out of the corner of his eye. Kyoya gave the girls a warning smile before he turned his back on them and followed his friends out of the Lobelia school.

"Welcome to Ouran High School!" Tamaki greeted Evelyn the next day at school. It was already her first day at Ouran, and the Host Club made it a point to run into her as much as possible. As of now, she had already met with the headmaster, Tamaki's dad, and was getting an exclusive tour from his son. "We appreciate your interest in this school and we will strive to help you make a career for the future."

Evelyn couldn't help but shake her head at her tour guide. He was trying his best to be cool, calm and collected, but she could see that was like a dog, wanting to burst free and play.

"Shall I escort you to your classroom?"

Evelyn almost shook her head, disagreed with him even. She didn't feel like herself in the poofy yellow dress. In all honesty, dresses just made her feel out of place no matter the occasion. Instead, Evelyn took a deep breath in and nodded her head.

"I would be delighted if you showed me the way."

Tamaki's violet eyes seemed to radiate his energy; Evelyn wished it was contagious. As they walked down the hall, Tamaki chatted away happily about Ouran Academy, pointing out different rooms that she would be acquainted with soon enough, and smiling at other students who approached him in the halls. Evelyn could already feel the curious gazes of some students, but she could definitely feel the predatorily looks from some of the boys. Still, she kept her head up and engaged in conversation with Tamaki, trying to keep up with his fast speaking. Soon enough, they paused in front of a class room. Tamaki's smile was still plastered to his face. It reminded of Evelyn when they first met; carefree and honestly enjoying every second of life.

"Alright Evelyn, this is your class room. Across the hall is Mori and Honey-senpai, so if you do need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

Evelyn nodded and took a deep breath in.

"Thanks Tamaki. I really do appreciate everything you've done for me."

"It's never a problem. You are a friend to the club, and we're always happy to help anyone out. Good luck on your first day of classes here and we will be meeting after school as well. We'd like to see you there."

"You guys are still in the same room, right?"

Tamaki nodded his head.

"Never going to change places."

Evelyn bowed slightly to him before she disappeared into her new classroom. As she walked into the room, some of the conversations between friends came to a halt, while others continued to talk like crazy. The teacher was already seated at his desk, and seemed completely absorbed in a paper that he was reading over, but somehow, he managed to acknowledge Evelyn's presence. He looked up at her as she approached his desk. He had a small grin on his face and greeted her.

"You must be Evelyn Richards." He guessed, but continued on without waiting on an answer. "Please feel free to sit wherever. Surprisingly, there is a window seat open over there if you want to take it."

"Thank you sir."

"Alright class," The chatter slowly died away as everyone's attention went to the teacher. He stood up next to Evelyn and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please welcome Ms. Richards to class 3-B."

A chorus of welcome and hellos overwhelmed Evelyn, but she kept her small smile on her face as she bowed respectfully to the class.

"Please take care of me." She replied.

"Ms. Richards, please introduce yourself to the class and tell us a little bit of something about you."

She nodded at the teacher, and then turned back to the class. Evelyn was surprised at the amount of attention that the class was giving her. Back at Lobelia, when she introduced herself, they ignored her with their phones, gum or notes. Nervously, Evelyn cleared her throat.

"My name's Evelyn Richards. I come from Tanzania, Africa where my parents and I run the Lake Manyara Conservation. I moved to Japan so I could finish my schooling."

Excited chatter once again flared up as soon as the word 'Africa' left her lips. The teacher cleared his throat and leaned against a desk with his arms crossed, looking so casual and collected.

"Does anyone have any questions for Richards-san?"

Much to Evelyn's surprise, hands shot up in the air and questions were being fired at her from every direction of the classroom. She felt a little bit overwhelmed, but tried to answer the questions to her best ability. It was then, that Evelyn realized, she had finally found a more comfortable school.

A/N- I'm so sorry! I thought I had posted this before I went camping! So here this chapter is, all ready for public appearance! I hope you enjoyed it!

Love,

Jazzy


	23. Fin

The pen was held over a journal, the tip gently touching the blank sheet of paper. A drop of ink fell on the blank page, and scattered away as far as it could go. Evelyn frowned at the small blot on her page, but it was the least of her worries that day.

'_So much has happened.' _She finally wrote and drew her hand away and glared at the words. _'My Uncle is on his way to my brother's today. How I hate that man. He thinks my education is not proper enough? I'll show him. I can be a lady too.'_

"Is something bothering you?" Mori's baritone voice interrupted her thoughts.

Evelyn's eyes ripped away from the paper and a look of shock flashed across her face. She looked behind Mori to find that all of the girls were gone for the day and Haruhi was cleaning up after the meeting. It was oddly quiet.

"The club is already over?"

"Yeah." Honey popped up in front of Mori, holding Usa-chan close to him. "We've been done for a few minutes."

"Oh. So I guess we'll be going home then?"

"Not quite yet."

Evelyn shook her head and forced a smile on her lips as she eyed Kyoya cautiously.

"Do you have to always be the kill joy?"

He pushed his glasses further up his nose and didn't bother smiling back. Something was wrong. She glanced around the room, and noted that everyone had stopped their closing chores, and had a fixed cup of tea sitting at the arm of a couch. Before the girl could even open her mouth to inquire, Mori tugged on her hand and urged the girl to her feet. His large had been placed at the small of her back as he guided her to the couch. As soon as she was seated in the middle, the lights in the room had gone dim and a projector light filled the room hitting a screen that the Host Club pulled out. Mori made sure he sat down next to the girl, and Honey occupied the empty seat to her other side. The boys and Haruhi found empty seats wearing grim looks.

"What's going on? I must meet my Uncle soon today. He's probably waiting for me now."

"Evelyn, you really need to watch this." Honey's voice wasn't cute and small like she was used to. In fact, the tone was dark, and angry, something that made Evelyn afraid of the teen.

Evelyn found herself grabbing Mori's hand, looking for some form for comfort, but the giant could only squeeze it in reassurance.

"Just watch."

"M'kay."

Black and white fuzz filled the screen for only minutes before a clear image of what looked like a truck delivery dock. Evelyn had never seen the place before, but one word was clear on the side of the trucks; _Ellerman House_. It was the same name as the hotel where the gala was placed. Not too far into the video, a black van parked next to it, and the same thugs abandoned the vehicles.

Evelyn was quick to point out the leader of the group, and she wasn't surprised when she had seen the back door open.

The man who opened the door was an all too familiar face. But it made her heart skip a beat as she was expecting it to be Mjomba. The tuxedoed man held the door open, but the leader stopped in front of the doorway and she could easily see money being exchanged between the filthy rich bastard and the greedy hired hand.

Evelyn's mind began to race as emotions raged within her, emotions she never felt all at once. As her vision began to blur, she knew exactly what she was feeling.

A knock on the door stole everyone's attention away from the crime scene. The door cracked open, before even waiting a full response from the Host Club, the same familiar person walked into the room. He looked around the darkened room and frowned before he moved further in, Luke shadowing reight behind him.

"Evelyn? This is not an appropriate setting; a lady should never be left alone with young men."

Her Uncle's voice was the last thing she wanted to hear. A hand grabbed hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. Mori.

Evelyn cleared her throat and stood up slowly. Mori's hand dropped from hers as he stood up next to her for moral support.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Clark Richards." Kyoya intervened, like always. "I bet we have something of interest for you."

Uncle Clark's eyes flashed to Kyoya, mouth opened to say something, but his hard eyes flashed over to the screen. His face paled as he instantly recognized the scene.

"I'm sure you would like to explain this."

"Where did you get the video?" His response was quick as he reached towards the projector.

"I have my sources."

"You killed her." Evelyn's voices wobbled, but it was too soft for anyone to hear properly. "You." This time, she got her Uncle's attention with a sudden strength in her voice.

"Evelyn, I did what I had to in order to save the family name."

"You ran off our donors. You hired those men."

"Evelyn," He took a step forward, reaching out to take her by the arm. "We can't discuss this here."

Evelyn ripped her arm away and backed away from him.

"I don't want to go anywhere with you. You're a murderer."

He scoffed and took another step forward to the retreating girl. "It was just a lion."

"You tried to ruin it. Everything my dad, your brother has worked on."

"Mr. Richards." the forgotten butler started. Luke took a cautious step forward and reached out to tug on Clark's arm, but the angry man ripped it out of his butler's grasp and continued on.

"Evelyn." His voice was forceful now, and he took another step towards here again. "You are coming home with me now."

"Clark Richards!"

There were small gasps resounding in the room and Evelyn peeked behind her uncle to see what everyone was looking at. Luke had removed himself from the shadows of the room and held a government ID in his right hand and a pair of cuffs in the other. Luke's face was set in stone and his eyes were hard as they stared down Clark, daring him to make any sudden moves. His coat was pulled back, revealing a small pistol holstered at his side.

"Clark Richards, I'm with the MI6. I have orders to bring you back to England to testify in court for so many illegal dealings with a terrorist society known to MI6 and other illegal activities that interfered with National Security, not only of Great Britain, but Japan as well."

The arrest had happened so fast, it didn't even register to Evelyn. Her eyes flashed between her Uncle, and back to Luke. All the words, all the hurt and pain she was prepared to deliver was gone instantly as she watched the butler- no the agent- haul him away in handcuffs.

'_What the hell just happened?'_

"So, he was undercover?" Haruhi asked. "This entire time, he was undercover?"

"Well, it would explain why my records never picked him up. My clearance is not high enough."

"Did that just really happen?" Evelyn finally found the courage to speak up. "Did he really just confess, and I didn't even get a chance…" Her thoughts trailed off as she shook her head.

Emotions suffocated her, too many thoughts rushed in and she couldn't pick out what to do, laugh, shake it off, cry?

"Eve-chan?"

Honey's innocent eyes peered up at the silent girl, struggling with what she felt. Sighing, Mori pulled the disgruntled girl into a tight embrace and let her sob into his chest, relieved she decided to let it out all the anger and pain with tears instead of bottling it up. He was relieved it was all over with.

A/N: Okay! That's the end of the story! I'm so sorry it took this long to get out, and to finish the story. I feel awful about it. I have forgotten about it, worked on it some, ran into blocks, pushed it off, it was awful for me to treat you all like that. I do apologize. But I hope this is a happy ending for you all! I'm glad to see it was done, and I finally got the courage up to finish it. I never leave projects half-way done. Thank you all for your continuous support! Without it, I wouldn't have made it!

Love,

Jazzy


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